BY THE VILLAGE SUN | New Yorkers were thrilled to witness a rare solar eclipse Monday afternoon as the moon passed in front of the sun.
Actually, though, the Big Apple was not in the so-called “path of totality” — unlike, say, Upstate Plattsburgh. Even so, we did experience around a 90 percent eclipse.
In advance, Governor Hochul announced that the total eclipse would encompass 29 counties in the western and northern parts of New York State. For other parts of the state outside the path of totality, there would still be 88 percent to more than 99 percent coverage.
State government had an “eclipse plan” to handle the pandemonium around the much-anticipated celestial event — which would of course be hyped to even greater heights thanks to the Internet.
In October 2022, Hochul convened an interagency task force of state agencies and authorities to prepare for the epic heavenly happening. For the past 18 months, the task force hashed out plans to ensure everyone could safely enjoy the colossal sun block. In a nutshell, the main precaution was: Get ready for hordes of car drivers zooming to path-of-totality viewing spots.
Meanwhile, if you didn’t get your eclipse sunglasses ahead of time in order to safely view the solar spectacle, it could be hard to find a pair anywhere. New York City public library branches had run out of them. Drugstores apparently didn’t think to sell them. … Weren’t they reading all the media coverage?
Yet, if you attended one of the “viewing parties” around town, you still had a chance of scoring some safe solar shades or at least sharing someone else’s for a gander at the obscured “great ball of fire.” It’s not safe to gaze at solar eclipses with normal sunglasses.
The next total solar eclipse visible from the contiguous U.S. will be more than 20 years from now — in August 2044. Get your glasses now!
wha? sorry, guess you picked the wrong planet dude. Over 2/3s munched, more like 7/8ths in darkness
A solar eclipse with 90% coverage? Where in NYC was that? I had to be in mid-Brooklyn on 4/8/24. From 3PM until 4PM the sun was never more than 1/3 obscured by the moon. No darkness, no chill in the air, no cessation of bird activity – no thrill.