The total solar eclipse passing over the U.S. on Monday from the southwest to the northeast will present a second-in-a-lifetime opportunity for those who saw the last one in August 2017. That eclipse bisected Tennessee corner to corner.
Monday's total solar eclipse path will just miss Tennessee's northwest corner as it races across the U.S. through Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York and Maine, according to NASA. The last total solar eclipse Aug. 21, 2017, was the first to cross the U.S. end to end in 99 years, and the next one won't happen until August 2044.
(READ MORE: Blind people can hear and feel April's total solar eclipse with new technology)
A total solar eclipse happens when the moon passes between the sun and Earth, completely blocking the face of the sun and allowing only the sun's wispy corona to shine around the black disk of the moon, according to NASA. People in the center of the moon's shadow when it hits Earth will experience a total eclipse. The sky will darken as if it were dawn or dusk, and the moon will appear as a large black disk.
A total solar eclipse is the only type of solar eclipse during which viewers can momentarily remove their eclipse glasses for the brief period of time when the moon is completely blocking the sun.
Partial solar eclipse: What time does the eclipse start in Chattanooga?
The partial solar eclipse will begin in Chattanooga at 1:45 p.m., reach its maximum at 3:04 p.m. and conclude at 4:21 p.m., a duration of 2 hours and 35 minutes. Everyone in the continental U.S. will be able to see varying degrees of the partial solar eclipse, said Sean Lindsay, senior lecturer and astronomy coordinator at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, but they should remember the dangers posed while they enjoy the view.
"In Chattanooga, it's going to be an 88% partial eclipse — imagine the entire disk of the sun — 88% of it will be covered by the moon," Lindsay said in a phone interview. "That means there's only be a thin sliver of the sun visible. That's enough of an eclipse, you'll notice right around the maximum eclipse, it'll get noticeably darker. It'll be a larger partial eclipse than the one we had in October 2023, so if anybody enjoyed that, this one they'll enjoy a good bit more."
A partial solar eclipse must only be viewed with eclipse glasses to avoid permanent eye damage, he said.
Staff photo by Olivia Ross / Eclipse glasses are seen at the MoonPie General Store on Friday.Welding goggles at shade level 12 blocks as much sunlight as eclipse glasses, Lindsay said, but viewers shouldn't be tempted to view it with a lesser shade level. Cameras, including those on cellphones, can be damaged, too, without the appropriate filter.
"The critical thing about a partial solar eclipse is really doubling down on the safety," he said.
There are some strategies for making the most of the partial event, Lindsay said.
"Additional things are really, really cool that people don't think about but is a really fun way to experience the eclipse is to grab a kitchen colander, and hold that up and you can get what's called a 'pinhole camera effect,'" he said. "As the light goes through the holes in the colander, it will project a mini eclipse on the ground."
With trees gaining leaves with the arrival of spring, the same effect can be experienced in a tree's shade, he said.
"If you find a tree that just lets a little bit of light through, each one of the shadows that goes through the leaves of the tree will make a little mini-eclipse," he said. "You'll see all the little eclipses cast on the ground. It's one of those things that feels a little bit wrong like somebody messed with our shadows."
Lindsay said eclipses are a good excuse to get together with friends and family for the experience.
Ace warns of defective glasses
Elder's Ace Hardware is warning customers who recently purchased eclipse glasses from the company that the glasses may not meet safety standards, according to a news release.
Officials with Elder's Ace Hardware said they have learned they may have sold unsafe eclipse glasses and urge customers to take an extra step before using them during the eclipse.
"If you purchased a pair of eclipse glasses from an Elder's Ace Hardware or any other source, you are urged to put the glasses on and go into any room with bright lights. If you can see any light, these glasses may not meet" safety standards for use during the eclipse, the release stated.
Sales were made throughout stores in East and Middle Tennessee, North Georgia and western North Carolina, according to the release. The company said it will provide a full refund to customers who have issues with their eclipse glasses.
— Compiled by Kiara Green
Total solar eclipse
The difference between experiencing a partial and total solar eclipse is vast, life-changing, Lindsay said, and while the experience of seeing totality with a small group is fun, the experience of sharing it with a large group of people deepens the experience, he said.
"During a total solar eclipse, all animals start behaving strangely," he said, "but you have to remember that we're animals, too, so humans start behaving really oddly, as well. You'll be hearing people yell out in joy, you'll see people crying, it's an amazing shared experience."
Lindsay has seen two total solar eclipses but will miss the one Monday because of work duties, he said.
But there's no comparison between the two.
"There are a lot of people out there who say, 'I don't understand, it's going to get a little bit dark, it's going to feel like it's night for a couple of minutes,'" he said. "For those people, I've got to say, 'You've got to go see a total solar eclipse,' because that is such an undersell of what the experience is.
"It feels like you got ripped out of reality and thrown into some surreal replacement of our world. What was the sun in the sky is now this black disk with this weird white, effusive light around it. It's like something out of a Salvador Dalí painting."
At totality, rippling shadows appear on the ground, there's an "eclipse breeze" and a 360-degree sunset, Lindsay said.
"It is one of the few times you truly feel like you are living on a planet suspended in space, so you're really interacting in a very real way, and you can feel it with us just being part of the universe," he said.
Lindsay believes more people will travel to see totality than in 2017 because there are experienced eclipse chasers to seek out a second experience and others who have heard about it a second time, he said.
Staff photo by Olivia Ross / Glasses, specialty pies and T-shirts for the solar eclipse are seen at the MoonPie General Store on Friday, April 5, 2024.A 'survival kit'
One celestially oriented Chattanooga company capitalized on Monday's event by producing a special line of its product, and its own version of eclipse glasses for safe viewing of the partial solar eclipse.
The MoonPie General Store on Broad Street ran out of the specially packaged "2024 Total Eclipse Survival Kit" edition of the famous pies, but many stores and other outlets that carry MoonPies still have some, said Kayla Smith, who works at the general store. Smith said the store still has plenty of MoonPie eclipse glasses and 12-count boxes of special edition MoonPies available.
"We started out this morning with about 20 of them," Smith said Friday in a phone interview. "They sold out by 1:15 ... We do have a fair amount of glasses in store. We have our 12-count chocolates with the specialized eclipse packaging."
The person who answered the phone at the East Ridge Food City store said the display of MoonPie kits there is fully stocked. Other locations might still be stocked, too, the person said.
Contact Ben Benton at bbenton@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6569.