Fort Pierce - Wednesday October 11, 2023: The Treasure Coast Astronomical Society and the Indian River State College (IRSC) student astronomy club is hosting an Eclipse Watch this Saturday October 14 at 11:30 a.m. at IRSC's Hallstrom Planetarium.
The event is free and astronomy club and Astronomical Society members will offer a safe guided view of what will be a partial eclipse of the sun by the moon.
The eclipse begins at approximately 11:55 a.m. and it will end about 3:07 p.m.
Along the Treasure Coast the eclipse will be partial with about 65% of the sun’s disc obscured by the moon at maximum.
Because the Sun is never completely covered by the Moon, all eclipse-watchers will need to use specialized solar filters or an indirect viewing method to safely watch the eclipse. It is never safe to look directly at the Sun without proper eye protection, even when most of the Sun is covered by the Moon. Two easy ways to view the eclipse are to use certified solar viewing glasses or build a pinhole projector from household materials.
Across parts of the west coast of the U.S. a more complete coverage of the the sun will occur in what's known as a 'ring of fire' eclipse.
A ring of fire eclipse occurs when the Moon is at or near its farthest point from Earth. Because the Moon is farther away than it is during a total solar eclipse, the Moon appears smaller and doesn't block out the entire Sun when it passes in front of our star. Instead, the Moon leaves a bright ring of Sun visible at the eclipse's peak, creating the ring of fire effect.
The path of this 'ring of fire' eclipse begins along the coast of Oregon and travels downward across Nevada, Utah, New Mexico and Texas, encompassing slivers of Idaho, California, Arizona and Colorado, before exiting into the Gulf of Mexico at Corpus Christi.
NASA is also hosting live coverage of the eclipse starting at 11:30 a.m. EDT. Watch the agency’s eclipse coverage live on NASA Television, the agency’s website, and the NASA app. NASA also will stream the broadcast live on its Facebook, X, and YouTube social media accounts.
NASA's interactive eclipse map provides details about the timing and type of eclipse visible in various locations.
More information about safe eclipse viewing is available on NASA's eclipse website.