Katonah - Lewisboro School District

Properly equipped, turn your eyes to the sky on August 21 to view an event that is truly a rare opportunity – an eclipse of the sun!  I remember being absolutely fascinated by such an event as a child of seven! 

The only safe way to look directly at the uneclipsed or partially eclipsed sun is through special-purpose solar filters, such as “eclipse glasses” or hand-held solar viewers. Homemade filters or ordinary sunglasses, even very dark ones, are not safe for looking at the sun. 

This event will be visible to all of North America – totality, where the moon will completely cover the sun and its corona will go from Salem, Oregon to Charleston, South Carolina. Outside of this path, a partial eclipse will be visible. NASA has an extensive website  devoted to the eclipse, where safety information, maps, events, and activities can be found.

In Cross River and nearby areas, the partial eclipse will begin at 1:23 PM local time.  It will end at 2:44 PM.  At its peak, 70.4% amount of the sun will be covered by the Moon and that will occur at 2:44 PM.  The entire event will last 2 hours 36 minutes and 40.2 seconds (data courtesy of WeatherSTEM, providers of the John Jay High School Science Department’s weather station).

Dr. Linda Burke, Instructional Leader,  Science, John Jay High School

I had heard about the total solar eclipse several months ago and knew that it was a very special event. According to NASA, the last one to be visible in the contiguous Unites States was in February, 1979 - and that was only able to be seen in northwestern states.

Being a former science teacher at John Jay, I find natural phenomena of this kind to be fascinating. You can imagine my delight when my daughter, Taylor, came to me when she found out about it. She was as excited as I was, and asked if we could go south to see the eclipse. Up in the northeast a partial eclipse can be seen, yet that is not as rare as being able to witness totality.

Since my parents are an hour north of the band of the total eclipse as it passes South Carolina soon after 2 PM on Monday, we decided to go. I have my eclipse eyeglasses and lens for my binoculars and camera. We will make a pinhole camera and try to notice any changes in animal behavior as the sky turns dark. I am so looking forward to this and being able to share it with my daughter and parents. It just better not be cloudy!

Vincent Bell, Assistant Principal, John Jay High School