Solar eclipse watch Monday at Williams Park

Jerry Koenig will have a viewing opportunity for Monday’s solar eclipse from 11:15 a.m. to 3 p.m. Williams Park on Lynn Avenue in Pawhuska.

“I will have three telescopes with solar filters set up to view the eclipse. I also have a small supply of solar glasses,” he said, adding he will be set up in the parking lot off Woodward Avenue.

Pawhuska will not experience a total eclipse. The eclipse will be a 87 to 89 percent. The moon’s first contact will be at 11:38 a.m. The midpoint of the eclipse will be 1:07 p.m., and the moon is clear of the sun at 2:37 p.m., he said.

Here are five other things to know about the eclipse.

1 The path of totality will cast a 70-mile wide shadow from South Carolina to Oregon

2 The last total solar eclipse viewed from the contiguous U.S. was Feb. 26, 1979

3. The next total solar eclipse will be visible from Maine to Texas on April 8, 2024

4. Do not look at the eclipse without eye protection. If you view it with unfiltered binoculars or telescope you could be blinded. Using solar filters or indirect means to see a projected image on a screen, you can examine our star safely on any sunny day. Solar eclipse glasses are only to be used with eyes alone. They are NOT safe for the intense focus of a telescope or even binoculars. Special solar filters are available that fit over the front of the telescope or binoculars.

5. Use the pinhole method. On any sunny day you can see the sun safely in a variety of other ways: With a pin hole in a closed window shade, the sun will cast a small, dim image inside the darkened room, which you can catch on a white cardboard screen. This is an excellent way to see the crescent shape of the partially eclipsed sun on eclipse day.

Similarly, you can make a shoe box viewer with a pinhole on one end and a white screen on the other; the image will be very small.

Another variation is to cap a long cardboard tube that held wrapping paper. Put a pinhole in the center of the cap. Rest the tube on your shoulder with the cap facing the sun and your back to the sun. Hold a white cardboard sheet in front of the open end of the tube, to see the solar image.

Any tiny hole will do. Try this the next sunny day. Make a nearly clenched fist, leaving only a very narrow space; sunlight can be cast right on the palm of your other hand! Also look under a leafy tree. This is most amazing during a partial eclipse. The hundreds of tiny holes left between overlapping leaves will project hundreds of crescent suns on the ground! Hint: Lay a white sheet on the shaded grass for the best view.