VIRGINIA – Darkness will take over in just a couple of weeks as a total solar eclipse occurs on April 8. Although in our area only around 85% of the sun will be blocked by the moon, people are getting excited and making preparations.
Another total solar eclipse isn’t expected to happen again for 20 years.
“We’re standing on this small little marble flying through space,” Natural Bridge State Park Chief Ranger of Visitor Experience Kenneth Horowitz said. “There’s a lot more going on beyond us. It’s just something that gives you a front-row seat to just what’s going on outside our planet, so it’s really special, and I hope you guys can come see it with us.”
Natural Bridge State Park is just one of 42 state parks that will be hosting an eclipse event for the public to enjoy that day. For places that will reach total darkness, Mother Nature is expected to put on quite a show.
“Animals will react,” Horowitz said. “They’ll start getting confused. Birds will think that nighttime is coming on early and in a hurry, so there’s a lot of things that you’ll be able to see, and you’ll even be able to watch as shadows get warped and changed as the light coming in hits them different.”
The most important thing to remember is not to look at the eclipse unprotected for any amount of time because you could risk your vision.
“There are chemical changes that can take place that damage those cells,” Virginia Tech Neuroscientist Dr. Kris Rau said. “You can also get direct thermal damage related to that as well.”
When buying a pair of eclipse glasses, the easiest way to know they’ll be effective is to buy them from a legitimate seller and not online.
You can take the homemade route too, Dr. Rau said.
“Just punching a little hole through a card with a safety pin, you can project the image of the sun onto some surface like another sheet of paper,” Dr. Rau said. “The important thing is to make sure that you keep the sun behind you.”