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Word has it there’s going to be a solar eclipse on Monday, August 21, 2017. That’s tomorrow, for anyone keeping track. But will we see it on the Old Mission Peninsula? I put my investigative journalism skills to work (by checking the NASA website – massive amounts of skill involved there) and learned that we’ll be able to see a partial solar eclipse, where the moon covers only part of the sun. Anyone in North America should be able to see a partial eclipse. Well, those of us not in the path of the total eclipse – read on for more about that.
On the Old Mission Peninsula, according to NASA, the partial solar eclipse will begin at 12:58 p.m., be at its max at 2:20 p.m. and end at 3:40 p.m. (The times listed on their interactive map are Universal Time, so I’m hoping I’ve calculated correctly by subtracting four hours from their map times to get OMP times – thank you for the correction in the comments below.)
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According to the weather app on my phone, we’re supposed to have partly sunny skies tomorrow, so hopefully we’ll be able to see the eclipse.
As for how to view it, there are all sorts of methods and solar eclipse glasses available, but I won’t recommend anything specific because I don’t want to be responsible for blinding anyone. Google it and see what you come up with. Just don’t look directly at the sun. That much I know.
To see the total eclipse, where the moon fully covers the sun for a short few minutes, you must be in “the path of totality.” No, this isn’t something out of a Ridley Scott movie. Well, maybe it is, but as NASA explains it, “the path of totality is a relatively thin ribbon, around 70 miles wide, that will cross the U.S. from west to east,” beginning in Oregon at 9:05 a.m. PDT and ending in South Carolina at 2:48 p.m. EDT. Michigan is not in that path.
As a side note, the eclipse’s longest duration will be near Carbondale, Illinois, where the sun will be completely covered for two minutes and 40 seconds.
Also, this is the first coast-to-coast solar eclipse in the United States in 99 years. People in parts of the contiguous U.S. last saw a total solar eclipse in 1979. Needless to say, people are pretty excited about it.
NASA is also live-streaming the eclipse for four and a half hours, beginning at 11:45 a.m. ET. Check it out here:
Peninsula Community Library director Vicki Shurly says folks are also welcome to stop by the library and watch NASA’s live stream on their big screen. Eat a moon pie while you watch!
Happy viewing! See you on the other side.
SUPPORT YOUR INDEPENDENT LOCAL NEWSPAPER: I started Old Mission Gazette in 2015 because I felt a calling to provide the Old Mission Peninsula community with local news. After decades of writing for newspapers and magazines like the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Family Circle and Ladies' Home Journal, I really just wanted to write about my own community where I grew up on a cherry farm and raised my own family. So I started my own newspaper.
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You subtract four hours from UTC to get Michigan time in the summer, not five, because we are on Daylight Savings Time.
Maximum eclipse will be at 2:20pm, not 1:20pm.
Thank you! I’ve adjusted the times accordingly.
Thank you!
Thanks! John- here we go.