Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - On April 8, 2024, many people will be looking up to the sky to get their once-in-a-lifetime chance to view a total solar eclipse.
But what is a total solar eclipse?
"It means that the moon is just close enough and at the right angle that it will cover the entire surface of the sun, making the sun's outer atmosphere, the corona, visible, which is normally not visible to us because the surface of the sun is so bright," explained Jen Schecter, Buffalo Museum of Science's Eclipse Coordinator. "Eclipses don't happen all the time, because the moon doesn't have a perfectly spherical orbit, it's not always lined up. So this is a pretty rare event."
How rare? Well, for starters, the last total solar eclipse visible to us as Buffalonians was in 1925, and it won't happen again until the year 2144.
"This is a really special treat for us being in the path of totality, or in that path of the moon shadow where we'll get complete darkness for about three minutes and forty-five seconds," Schechter told WBEN on Friday.
The Buffalo Museum of Science has been working hard to get the word out on eclipse education as well as handing out over 330,000 pairs of eclipse glasses, which will help you safely view the marvel.
"The lenses of eclipse glasses black out about 99.999% of light and that is very important in order to be safe for solar viewing. The features that you want to look for on a pair of eclipse glasses is ISO that adheres to the ISO certification 12312-2, which is an international standard that all filters that are saved for solar viewing must adhere to," Schechter said.
You can find a pair of free solar eclipse glasses at any library part of the Buffalo and Erie County Public Library System while supplies last.
Schechter advises as many are going to go out to view the event, including tourists from out of town, you may want to consider making plans at home to view the eclipse.
"We are recommending that viewers stay at or close to home if possible because Erie County is anticipating upwards of a million Eclipse tourists coming into town, so traffic could get pretty bad. You don't have to be anywhere special to view the eclipse, you just have to have a clear view of the southwestern sky starting at about 3:18 in the afternoon. That's when totality starts."
Starting April 1, there will be special Eclipse events leading up to the April 8. The museum will be closed on the day of the eclipse.
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