When the solar eclipse arrives on Monday, Buck P. Creacy will be at an undisclosed location in Western Kentucky experiencing totality. It’s an event he’s been anticipating for more than two years, and he hopes to be alone.
Creacy won’t divulge specifics about the location that he’s scouted out to view the eclipse, only to say that it’s within feet of the centerline of totality and closer to the town of Cerulean, Kentucky — the location of the eclipse’s true apogee, or the place where the moon will appear largest and closest to the Earth — than it is to Hopkinsville, Kentucky and the anticipated crowds in “Eclipseville U.S.A.”
There’s no doubt that the first solar eclipse to sweep across the width of the United States in 99 years is a hotly anticipated event. A lucky few in the roughly 70-mile wide band of totality will experience a total solar eclipse, while everyone in North America will experience varying degrees of a partial eclipse.
Folks in Lexington will experience a 94 percent partial eclipse which, while not as striking as totality, is enough to experience some pretty cool phenomenon. As the moon’s shadow obscures the sun, the temperature will drop by about 5 to 10 degrees, crickets will start to sing, and many dogs may start howling, Creacy says.
People may also notice gray, smoky, shimmering parallel lines known as shadow snakes moving across the ground. Since most of eclipse will cover the south side, or down side, of the sun, the horizon line will resemble a sunset.
It’s cool stuff, and many people will want to be outside to appreciate it. Fayette County Public Schools have cancelled classes for the day, and many companies are also making accommodations. Eclipse-viewing glasses are nearly impossible to find around town, and are selling for exorbitant prices online.
Toyota has even shifted its production and break schedules so that its team members will have an opportunity to view the eclipse. The company has also ordered roughly 12,000 pairs of certified eclipse-viewing glasses for its employees and contractors, as well.
“We wanted to make accommodations for our team members for this exciting, once-in-a-lifetime event, while also allowing our team members to view the event safely,” says Toyota spokesperson Rick Hesterberg.
Even with eclipse glasses, however, people will need to exercise extreme caution to avoid permanent damage to their eyes from looking directly at the partial eclipse.
“The sky will be dark and it will be deceptive,” Creacy says. “You will see the shadow over the sun and you will think that it’s ok to look, but I would strongly suggest not looking at the eclipse at all.
You will see the shadow over the sun and you will think that it’s ok to look, but I would strongly suggest not looking at the eclipse at all.
Creacy says that the 6 percent of sunlight allowed through during a 94 percent partial eclipse is equivalent to 24,000 times brighter than the brightest full moon that you’ve ever seen.
“You can interpret that as almost instantaneous retinal damage, and the retina of your eye — the rods and cones — do not repair themselves,” he says. “Historically the people who are injured happen between 92 and 98 percent totality, so we’re right in that hot zone. It’s not like a welder’s burn or a flash burn — this is a permanent, debilitating damage.”
For those who would rather remain indoors during the eclipse, NASA will offer live-streaming coverage of the event throughout the day on its website. The downtown location of the Lexington Public Library will be streaming NASA’s "Eclipse Across America" program from noon to 4 p.m. Monday in its Farish Theater. Doors will open at 11:15 a.m.
For those who would rather be outdoors, there are several safer ways to view the eclipse.
One is to make a camera obscura — a pinhole in a piece of cardboard held over a blank piece of paper — or to make a shadow box.
Another method is to project the eclipse through a telescope onto a white surface.
“Buy the cheapest telescope you can buy, set it up on a tripod and point it at the sun. Leave the eyepiece on and sticking up at 90 degrees,” Creacy says. “Then take a white piece of foam core, back it away from the eyepiece and the sun will be projected onto the foam core.”
Instructions for all these three methods can be found online.
For those using eclipse glasses, make sure that they are “ISO 12312-2 certified,” with that designation printed somewhere on the glasses. Even then people should exercise caution.
“Don’t think you can just lean back and watch the whole thing happen,” Creacy says. “It’s a three hour event and you can only watch for a couple of hours, tops [with the glasses]. You have to pace yourself.”
Even then, you’ll need to take your glasses off to see phenomenon like the horizon line and shadow snakes.
As for Creacy, he plans to observe the eclipse from his undisclosed location using the telescope projection method and then enjoy totality, which people in Lexington will not be able to see.
“That’s the very best you can do,” he says.
Click here for a list of several local eclipse watch parties scheduled for Monday.