The “Great American Eclipse”, as the press has labeled it, will be on Monday, August 21st.  Although Connecticut is well out of the path where the Sun will be totally eclipsed by the Moon, the Litchfield Hills Amateur Astronomy Club and White Memorial Conservation Center are hosting a special daytime program to observe the eclipse.  The eclipse party will start at 1:00pm and last until 3:00pm or so.
There will not be a talk, and the event will not take place if the weather is cloudy or bad.

To view the eclipse safely, you must use the proper solar glasses or use one of the telescopes the club will have.  As of Tuesday, 8/15, the Museum shop at White Memorial was out of eclipse glasses, as were the Oliver Wolcott Library in Litchfield and the Morris Public Library.  (Other libraries might still have some.)  However, the club will have telescopes equipped with the appropriate filters and one scope with a camera displaying an image on a laptop.  Through a telescope you can see sunspots and prominences – areas where vast amounts of gas are being thrown off the Sun.

The program is free, and all ages are welcome.  Children must be accompanied by an adult.

Come see the “Great American Eclipse” with us!

If you can’t make it to our star party and haven’t been able to get eclipse glasses, a number of web sites have instructions on how to make indirect viewers called pinhole solar viewers.  They are safe if made and used properly.  Here’s an easy one using a cereal box (you can also use a shoe box):

https://eclipse2017.nasa.gov/how-make-pinhole-projector-view-solar-eclipse

And if all else fails, or the weather is bad, the Science Channel will have live TV coverage, and a number of sites will stream images live, including NASA and The New Yorker magazine:

https://eclipse2017.nasa.gov/eclipse-live-stream

http://www.newyorker.com/sections/tech/watch-our-live-stream-of-the-2017-total-solar-eclipse