Preparing for total solar eclipse – in Rockwall

ROCKWALL, TX (Jan. 24, 2024) Unless your head has been in the sand, under a rock or you just don’t pay attention to things happening around these parts, there’s a total solar eclipse happening IN Rockwall on April 8, 2024. A total solar eclipse can be an awe-inspiring celestial event that drastically changes the appearance of the two biggest objects in our sky: the Sun and Moon. Here are some tips to get the most out of the event, to stay safe, and most of all…enjoy this gift of our natural world.

Safety. Safety. Safety.

Although there’s nothing dangerous about any kind of solar eclipse since it’s just the Moon moving in between you and the Sun, the problem is that people realize something strange is going on with the Sun and they look up at it and the Sun’s rays can burn their eyes. With the exception of a brief total phase of a total solar eclipse when the Moon completely blocks the Sun’s bright face, it is not safe to look directly at the Sun without specialized eye protection for solar viewing. Viewing any part of the bright Sun through a camera lens, binoculars, or a telescope without a special-purpose solar filter secured over the front of the optics will instantly cause severe eye injury.

When watching the partial phases of the solar eclipse directly with your eyes, which happens before and after totality, you must always look through safe solar viewing glasses (“eclipse glasses”) or a safe handheld solar viewer. Eclipse glasses are NOT regular sunglasses; regular sunglasses, no matter how dark, are not safe for viewing the Sun. Safe solar viewers are thousands of times darker and ought to comply with the ISO 12312-2 international standard.

The American Astronomical Society has compiled a great list of places where you can purchase ISO 12312-2 certified solar eye, camera, phone, and telescope protection. (View that list here>> https://eclipse.aas.org/resources/solar-filters). One of the vendors on this list produces glasses for a local company with some very nice DFW Eclipse labeling. You might want to check these out as a memento of the event >> https://totaleclipsedfw.com/glasses/.

Know When It Happens.

Below is a chart that describes the eclipse timing, in general, for Rockwall. A note of caution here, I have noticed very many “eclipse maps” or “eclipse trackers” popping up on internet sites as hooks to sell you overpriced solar eclipse merchandise. I’m not saying these are all bad, but they’re not developed by space scientists and if you want to trust your eye safety and your kids’ eye safety to their timing charts…well, that’s on you. I’m using NASA Astrophysicist and Eclipse predictor, Dr. Fred Espenak’s chart to provide you the most accurate information possible.

You can use the site yourself here >> https://eclipsewise.com/solar/SEgmapx/2001-2100/SE2024Apr08Tgmapx.html just zoom way in and click on your location for precise timing data.

Get to where you’re going early and get settled.

Since the eclipse starts around lunchtime, make plans to be where you’re going to be well in advance of that time. The last thing you want to be doing is driving around on the road when it starts getting dark in the middle of the day. Please, if you’re driving at this time, don’t look at the Sun. Just try to remember it’s going to get dark and let your eyes adjust.

For those of you challenged by time zones, just do -5 to get local Rockwall time on Fred’s map. You can see that in Rockwall, the partial eclipse (you need solar glasses) begins at 12:23:59.3 and ends at 3:03:20 so that’s a long time to be looking up at the Sun unless you are comfortable. Here is an activity >> https://science.nasa.gov/resource/how-can-the-little-moon-hide-the-giant-sun/ ; and you can find a list of things to discuss, courtesy of NASA at this site>> https://science.nasa.gov/eclipses/future-eclipses/eclipse-2024/faq/ . Remember, the partial eclipse, both before and after, is loaded with interesting phenomena like Bailey’s Beads and Crescent Shadows. But the reason you are so excited is for TOTALITY when it’s totally dark. There’s no such thing as a partial total eclipse. It’s either totally dark in the middle of the day or it’s not and we, my Rockwall friends, are very, very lucky to enjoy at least FOUR minutes of total darkness on this day!

Make an Eclipse Plan.

Now that you have the information needed to know when it’s safe to remove your glasses, write the time down, set an alarm on your phone for the glasses off and glasses back on time or do something to remind you because it will catch you by surprise. For my house, the glasses off time is 1:41:39.4 and glasses on is 1:45:44.6 and I’m setting alarms on my phone to remind me that on the first alarm take off the glasses and look up safely at the Sun. Then at the second alarm, put the glasses back on if I want to look at the Sun.

During the eclipse.

Notice how the environment changes. The temperature will drop because solar radiation is blocked, but we are radiating heat out into space according to Stefan-Boltzman Law of Blackbody radiation. Also, note the behavior of animals. Hopefully you can be in an area where there are cattle, donkeys, and horses…watch how they react.

Most of all….Be safe and enjoy the eclipse.

Max Corneau is a NASA, JPL Solar System Ambassador and Principal Space Scientist for Charles River Analytics. The opinions expressed on this page are his own.