ORLANDO, Fla. – Bust out your approved eclipse glasses! For the second straight year, a solar eclipse can be seen from Florida.
Like last October, Florida will see a partial solar eclipse. In 2023, there was an annular solar eclipse, meaning the moon didn’t completely cover the sun and a “ring of fire” was left around the moon.
For those in the path of totality, April’s event will be a total solar eclipse, when the moon completely blocks out the sun and brings complete darkness in the middle of the afternoon.
Totality allows you to look directly at the eclipse as the moon is completely blocking the sun. It’s at this time you can see the sun’s corona, or atmosphere. Totality ends with the iconic diamond ring effect as a burst of sunlight appears along one of the edges of the sun. Approved glass MUST remain on at all times if you are looking at the sun during a partial solar eclipse.
While Central Florida won’t witness the main event, you’ll still be able to see the moon take a “bite” out of the sun on April 8 during the partial solar eclipse. In order to look directly at the eclipse, you need approved protective eyewear.
Jim Bailey
Today's Eclipse East Palatka Jim Bailey
Do not look directly at the sun during this event. At the end the end of this story, you can find a DIY project to protect your eyes if you don’t have the correct protective eyewear.
How to see it in Central Florida
The moon will cover about 65% of the sun during the height of the eclipse in Central Florida.
The eclipse gets underway for Central Florida at 1:46 p.m.
The maximum eclipse occurs just after 3 o’clock in the afternoon.
The eclipse will end in Central Florida at 4:17 p.m.
How to safely view
Solar eclipses, total or annular, require approved protective eyewear or a device that projects the eclipse onto a surface. These devices can be made at home.
In 2017, the last total solar eclipse seen from the U.S., approved eclipse solar glasses were hard to find. Fake solar glasses were also on the market. Using fake glasses is extremely dangerous. Glasses NEED to meet the ISO 12312-2 international safety standard for solar viewing.
You will find the ISO logo on all approved glasses
Still, counterfeiters can replicate the logo, so it is important to know where your eyewear is coming from. For a list of where you can purchase approved eclipse-viewing glasses, click here.
Cool Things To Look For
- Skies Turn Darker
- While it won’t turn completely dark across Central, with 65% of the sun blocked, you can expect the afternoon sky to look more similar to twilight during the height of the eclipse.
- Temperature Drop
- With a good chunk of the suns rays being blocked by the moon, solar heating will decrease for a short time which will allow temperatures to drop a few degrees during the eclipse. If you have a thermometer you can watch this happen in real time.
- Crescent Shape Through Leaves
- While everyone is looking up, with approved glasses or a DIY projector, you might want to look down for a minute. The sun shining in between gaps in the leaves act as a pinhole projector, keep reading if you want to make your own, and project the eclipse on the ground. If you want to read more about this phenomenon click here.
Central Florida In Totality
If you aren’t able to travel to see the main event in April, Central Florida will find itself in the path of totality in 2045.
Make your own eclipse projector
It is also very simple to make your own viewing device with common household items.
All you need are scissors, a box, white paper, tape, aluminum foil and a pencil.
Step 1: Cut two square holes in the same side of the box. Any box will do.
Step 2: Tape a piece of aluminum foil on one of the holes. Using the pencil, poke a small hole in the foil.
Step 3: Inside the box, opposite of the holes, tape a white piece of paper. This is where the eclipse will be projected. Close up the box.
With your back to the sun, angle the box so that the holes are pointing toward the sun. Look in the open hole and you will see the eclipse projected onto the computer paper in the back of the box.
Happy viewing! Remember, never directly look at the sun without approved eyewear. You may not feel the “pinch” of the sun hurting your eyes because a good portion of the rays will be blocked, but the sun is damaging your eyes.
The lack of pain makes this even more damage because you don’t have the urge to turn away like on a completely sun-filled day.