Saturday in central and eastern Kentucky, the sun will be partially eclipsed by the moon, beginning about noon. Dr. Mark Pitts is a professor at Eastern Kentucky University’s Department of Physics, Geosciences, and Astronomy. He said while the moon and sun will be properly aligned, there won’t be a total eclipse, but rather, an annular eclipse.
“Because the moon's orbit is not a perfect circle around the Earth, the Moon is sometimes slightly closer to Earth, sometimes farther away than average. An annular eclipse occurs when the moon is farther from the earth than average.”
Pitts said in Kentucky, 40 to 50 percent of the sun will be eclipsed -- but people shouldn’t look directly at it without solar eclipse, or solar filter, glasses.
“That means that a significant amount of the sun is still always going to be exposed. And so you don't want to use your naked eye, especially in the middle of the day.”
Pitts said another way to view Saturday’s eclipse is to poke a hole in a piece of cardboard and view the shadow it casts.
** WEKU is working hard to be a leading source for public service, fact-based journalism. Monthly sustaining donors are the top source of funding for this growing nonprofit news organization. Please join others in your community who support WEKU by making your donation.
