Planetarium director speaks on what to expect during solar eclipse

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WBRC) - If you’re one of those people thinking about the upcoming solar eclipse—what’s the big deal…another eclipse…so what?

Well, let me introduce you to David Weigel. He is the Intuitive Planetarium Director at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville.

Weigel has experienced a total solar eclipse before, and he studies this kind of thing for a living, and he gives us his perspective.

“A total solar eclipse is really one of the most spectacular astrophysical phenomena that you can observe with your own eyes,” says Weigel. “And so, on April 8 of this year we’re going to experience that kind of across the continental United States. It will start sort of in Mexico—come across the United States, up through into kind of very eastern Canada. And for folks not in the path of totality, you’ll be treated to a partial solar eclipse. And so, what that means is that the disk of the moon is going to pass mostly in front of the surface of the sun from our perspective, everything will be sort of cosmically aligned. And it will look like a nice chunk of the sun is darkened, or a nice disk of the sun is darkened and then a little bit of a crescent of the sun remains. So, here in Huntsville we’re going to experience about 90-percent obscuration—so a significant diming, a very nice crescent sun. And, I would say to people that a partial solar eclipse is like a 7 or 8 out of 10 in terms of you know an exciting viewing experience.”

Now, if you can travel to the path of totality, that’s where the disk of the moon will entirely block out the light from the sun, that is truly astounding. It’s a once or twice in a lifetime sort of experience and Weigel highly recommends traveling to the path of totality if you’re able to.

If you can’t travel to a spot in the path of totality, Weigel says the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville will have all sorts of activities during the day on April 8 as well as various subject matter experts from NASA to answer questions.

They will also have solar telescopes set up and provide eclipse glasses for safe viewing.

For more information contact the Space and Rocket Center or click here.

Get news alerts in the Apple App Store and Google Play Store or subscribe to our email newsletter here.