Solar Eclipse Pro Tip: Don't Video It, Experience It
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NEW YORK (CBSMiami) - The host of the popular podcast "StarTalk" has some advice for anyone looking forward to next Monday solar eclipse, put down your smartphone and really experience it.
"Experience this one emotionally, psychologically, physically," astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson told an audience at the American Museum of Natural History on Monday.
Tyson, the director of the museum's Hayden Planetarium said missing the eclipse "would be to not live as full a life as you could have" — and having a video of it doesn't match watching it happen.
"I get it — you want to look at it later. But then you would not have experienced it in the moment," said Tyson, who also has appeared on the hit CBS sitcom "The Big Bang Theory."
The August 21st event will be the first total solar eclipse in 99 years to cross a coast-to-coast swath of the United States. A total solar eclipse happens when the moon passes between the earth and the sun, completely blotting out the sunlight.
Here in South Florida, we won't get a total eclipse, but we will get a pretty good partial eclipse - about 80 percent of the sun's surface will be blocked by the moon.
It will begin at 1:26 p.m. and last just about three hours - it will peak at 2:57 p.m., according to TimeAndDate.com.
The Archdiocese of Miami says on Monday there will be an early release for its elementary and high school students in Miami-Dade and Broward.
"All our schools are dismissing at 11:30 and we're doing this because of this historic event that is going to be occurring over the state of Florida and that is our total solar eclipse," said Archdiocese of Miami Director of Communications Mary Ross Agosta.
Miami-Dade County Public Schools said most of its outdoor afterschool activities will be moved indoors and school dismissal times have not changed.
The next annular solar eclipse will happen in 2023 and will be visible from Northern California to Florida.
The use of special eclipse viewing safety glasses cannot be stressed enough. Regular sunglasses are not enough to protect your eyes from damage.
For those unable to buy special glasses to view the sun safely, Tyson, recommends holding a spaghetti strainer to the ground and looking at the images it creates below, like a pinhole camera.
And however one views it, "recognize that, occasionally, things line up in ways that are uncommon or unusual, either in your life experience or for the earth itself," he said.
(© Copyright 2017 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
