Saturday, Oct. 14 will bring the first of two solar eclipses within a six month period and Tarleton invites the public to the planetarium to witness the event (see later in the story). The eclipse will be visible across the state with the proper viewing equipment and Texans are advised to be aware of possibilities during the event.
The Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service’s Disaster Assessment Recovery, DAR, unit along with state emergency preparedness officials, urge individuals to be mindful of increased traffic and resources leading up to and during Oct. 14.
The last solar eclipse in the U.S. was in 2017 and the state of Kentucky saw a 222% increase in automobile traffic while Tennessee saw more than 1 million visitors for eclipse events.
A solar eclipse is predicted to begin Saturday, Oct. 14 at 10:23 a.m. and conclude at 1:33 p.m. It will be best viewed from the west regions of Texas, according to officials.
“In Texas, we are anticipating significant increases in roadway traffic, potentially causing delivery delays, as well spikes in fueling locations, hotels, restaurants and other venues as visitors position themselves for this unique event,” said Bryan Davis, AgriLife Extension DAR area chief south region. “Additionally, people should be prepared for more unexpected impacts like increased strains on cellular service.”
The annular, or ringed shaped, solar eclipse, is when the moon passes between the Sun and Earth but does not completely cover the sun.
The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department has compiled state park viewing locations with the nearest being in San Angelo and Big Spring.
Next year, a total solar eclipse event, when the moon passes between the sun and earth completely blocking the face of the sun, is expected to begin April 8, 2024 and will be visible from Kerrville at 1:32 p.m. for relatively 4 minutes and 25 seconds.
Asolareclipseviewingparty will be at 9:30 a.m. Saturday in the planetarium of the Lamar Johanson Science Building. Hunewell Ranch northeast of Stephenville will host the Fall Star Party at 6:30 p.m. that evening at the university’s observatory.
All activities are open to the public.
Members of Tarleton’s Society of Physics Students will set up solar telescopes outside the planetarium Saturday morning so the public can safely view the annular eclipse. Approved solar eclipse viewing glasses will be handed out while supplies last. (The American Astronomical Society’s website features instructions on how to view eclipses safely as well as a list of suppliers of safe solar filters and viewers.)
The Tarleton Planetarium also will feature special programming about eclipses, with shows cycling every 30 minutes. The first show will begin at 9:30 a.m. and the last at 1 p.m.
The Hunewell gates will open at 6:30 p.m. Inside the observatory, visitors will have access to Tarleton’s research-grade telescope, while outside several smaller yet powerful scopes will detail spectacular night-sky objects, including Jupiter, Saturn and neighboring galaxies.
Ideal night viewing occurs when conditions are as light free as possible. Guests arriving will be asked to turn their headlights off (amber parking lamps only) as they approach the parking area.
For general information contact science and mathematics Program Coordinator Jason Jacks at 254-968-0784.
For those extra interested in the eclipse, the Dublin Public Library is offering coloring sheets and packets of information. Pick one up this week!