Grab your solar glasses: Sun to shine brightly (most of) Monday afternoon

A rare solar eclipse will put on an incredible show in the skies. For the first time in almost a century, a total solar eclipse will be visible from coast to coast.

We know that some non-standard eclipse glasses have been distributed locally so, if you have a pair, please check them. “Never look at the sun, eclipsed or not, through an unfiltered camera, telescope, binoculars, or other optical device or using homemade filters or ordinary sunglasses, even very dark ones, as doing so could damage your vision”, says Mistler. Even in those areas, totality – the total blocking of the sun – will only be visible for 2 to 3 minutes before the moon moves on.

Monday’s solar eclipse will be visible across North America, with anyone within a roughly 70-mile-wide path from OR to SC experiencing a brief total eclipse. Be sure to take it in because something like this won’t happen for several decades over our tri-state area! That means the sun’s harsh rays will still be shining down on us the whole way through.

He also suggests people build their own, cheaper alternative like a pinhole box made from cardboard or just use two paper plates with a small hole made from a needle punched in one of the plates. The projection of the eclipse will then appear in as a crescent in the shadow. The glasses feature a special filter that blocks out all UV light and most visible light too.

Only people in the path of totality will be able to look at the sky with the naked eye during the length of totality.

Many organizations probably will be participating in free public viewing of the eclipse.

Rock Island Library will offer guided solar eclipse viewing at the RI 30/31 branch 3059 30th Street.

At its height, the eclipse will obscure about 71 percent of the sun in High Point in Sussex County and about 77 percent in Cape May.

What exactly is a solar eclipse?

Of course there are NASA apps for iOS, Android and Amazon Fire and Fire TV that will be showing the eclipse.