APRIL 8, 2024: Solar Eclipse Day
Written by Ariel Newbold on April 8, 2024
After all the hype and excitement, and a last-minute rush to find a pair of special sunglasses, it’s finally Solar Eclipse Day! Millions of science fans, and others who just want to witness a rare astronomical event that they won’t get to see again in the U.S. until 2044 or 2045, will be inside the path of totality, which runs from Texas to Maine, to get a glimpse of the total eclipse of the sun. Everyone else will get to see at least a portion of the sun being obscured by the moon. Here’s everything you need to know today:
For everyone in the United States, the entire event gets started in Texas around 1 p.m. CT and ends in Maine around 4 p.m. ET. 
Although it should go without saying, staring directly at the sun for any amount of time is very dangerous and harmful to the eyes, especially today when you might be tempted to. That’s why dark eclipse glasses should be worn. Regular sunglasses are not protective enough. Just make sure you wear real eclipse glasses and not counterfeit ones. NASA recommends putting on your eclipse glasses and looking at a bright light, like a flashlight. If the light is “extremely dim,” or doesn’t appear at all, the glasses are safe.
If you are in the path of 100% totality, you will experience about 4.5 minutes of night-like darkness in the middle of the day – at which point you may briefly remove your glasses.
Drive carefully. During the last solar eclipse in 2017, there was a 31% increase in the number of fatal traffic accidents due to a high volume of cars on the road leaving areas that were in the path of totality, as well as drivers trying to look at the sun while driving.
