Florida will experience a partial solar eclipse on Monday

We don’t have to tell you not to look directly at next Monday’s solar eclipse without protective eyewear, do we?

“Do NOT look at the Sun through a camera lens, telescope, binoculars, or any other optical device while wearing eclipse glasses or using a handheld solar viewer — the concentrated solar rays will burn through the filter and cause serious eye injury,” NASA warns on its website.

“When watching a partial or annular solar eclipse directly with your eyes, you must look through safe solar viewing glasses (‘eclipse glasses’) or a safe handheld solar viewer at all times,” the site continues.

“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 zone of totality will run from Texas through Maine. Although Florida will not experience totality during the show, we will get between 70% and 50%, ranging from the state’s north to its south, according to The New York Times’ map. You won’t get another total eclipse in the United States until Aug. 23, 2044.

That will be spectacular enough that some schools plan to let kids out of class during the event, which will begin at around 1:45 p.m. and end after 4 p.m.

The University of Florida plans to open its observatory, where members of the public can gaze through telescopes at the eclipse free of charge. Experts will explain what’s happening.

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