Residents of the northern U.S. will have an opportunity to reuse their solar eclipse glasses Wednesday, when a partial solar eclipse will blanket the region.
A solar eclipse occurs when the moon blocks some or all of the sun as seen from Earth. The farther north you travel in North America on Wednesday, the more of the sun will be obscured by the moon.
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For people in the Upper Midwest and New England, less than 20% of the sun will be blocked. For those viewing the eclipse with approved eclipse glasses, it will appear as though a small bite has been taken out of the sun.
The exact timing will depend on location. In Alaska, it will be a morning eclipse, while those in New England should look up after lunch.
Parts of Alaska could see up to half of the sun blocked by Wednesday’s eclipse.
“When watching a partial solar eclipse directly with your eyes, always look through safe solar viewing glasses (‘eclipse glasses’) or a safe handheld solar viewer. Eclipse glasses are NOT regular sunglasses; regular sunglasses, no matter how dark, are not safe for viewing the sun. Safe solar viewers are thousands of times darker and ought to comply with the ISO 12312-2 international standard,” NASA said.
A total solar eclipse will be visible in remote eastern Greenland, the western tip of Iceland and parts of Spain. A large portion of the sun will be blocked across Western Europe just before sunset.
Wednesday marks the first total solar eclipse anywhere in the world since the eclipse that crossed parts of the U.S. in April 2024. Another total solar eclipse will occur in 2027, followed by another in 2028. However, total solar eclipses are rare in any single location.
The next total solar eclipse visible from anywhere in the contiguous U.S. will not occur until 2044.
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Eclipse glasses can be reused indefinitely as long as they do not have scratches or blemishes on the lenses.
If you are unable to find eclipse glasses, another option is to make a pinhole camera using paper, a pushpin, tape, scissors and a paper clip.
