On April 8, parts of the United States will get to experience a solar eclipse. I am not sure if those of us in New York City will be able to enjoy it as so many of us did in 2017. I am not sure if the weather will be clear enough for us to see a relatively rare wonder in nature. However, if the weather holds and you are in a part of the country where the eclipse might be seen, it is not too late to be prepared.
Weather permitting, the eclipse will occur beginning in Texas and traveling in an arc through portions of Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine.
First things first: You must get a pair of eclipse glasses to look at the eclipse. Doing so without proper glasses could be detrimental to your eyes. It is also imperative to purchase glasses from a reputable source, because there are lots of knock-offs on the market. If you are purchasing glasses online, be sure they are ISO-certified—that is, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 12312-2 certification. These special glasses block harmful ultraviolet rays in ways that regular glasses and sunglasses cannot. It is not OK to use regular sunglasses to look at an eclipse.
Looking at the eclipse through your phone, binoculars, or a telescope without a proper filter can cause severe damage to your eyes and is not advisable. Some people make pinhole projectors if they do not have glasses; how to do so can be found on various websites online. It’s a great activity to do with young kids as well.
What is an eclipse? The total solar eclipse occurring on April 8, 2024 will be when the moon passes between the sun and the Earth, completely blocking the face of the sun. If you are in the path of the eclipse, even at midday, the sky will darken as though it is dawn or dusk.
Some of you may recall the eclipse from 2017, when many people in the city came outside to see what all the commotion was about. What I remember so vividly about that day, as I walked from lower Manhattan all the way up to Harlem to maximize my time outside enjoying the eclipse, was the number of people of color who had not heard anything about the eclipse and did not have glasses to enjoy it safely. There was an information gap that prevented people, young and old, from enjoying this wondrous experience. I hope that this year, more people will be prepared, have glasses, and—weather permitting—will take the time to enjoy the solar eclipse.
Christina Greer, Ph.D., is an associate professor at Fordham University; author of “Black Ethnics: Race, Immigration, and the Pursuit of the American Dream”; co-host of the podcast FAQ-NYC and host of The Blackest Questions podcast at TheGrio; and a 2023–24 Moynihan Public Scholars Fellow at CCNY.