A rare annular solar eclipse will happen on Saturday as the moon passes between the sun and the earth. President of the Shreveport Bossier Astronomical Society Dr. Cran Lucas said the best place to see the Ring of Fire around the moon is in west Texas and into central New Mexico.
“But in Louisiana, we will see somewhere between 70% and 75% of the sun covered up, and this is going to happen between 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.,” said Lucas.
You never want to look directly at the sun at any time, especially during an eclipse. Lucas said never to use binoculars or a telescope to view the sun unless you have a special solar filter. He said you might want to check to see if a local astronomy club is hosting an event on Saturday.
“We are going to be out at LSU-Shreveport with solar scope and solar glasses for people to observe. But never, never look at the sun without a suitable solar filter,” said Lucas.
If you aren’t able to get your hands on specialized glasses to view the annular eclipse, Cran recommends building a pinhole camera so you can enjoy the rare event.
“Get a piece of cardboard, take a pin and punch a little tiny hole in the middle of it, and then hold that cardboard in front of a piece of paper and aim that towards the sun, and what you’ll see is an image of the sun on the paper,” said Lucas.
The next total solar eclipse visible in North America will happen on April 8, 2024. After that, an eclipse will not be visible in the US until 2044.
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