Professional and amateur Astronomers as well as casual stargazers will descend upon a path stretching across 13 US states on April 8 to see the first total eclipse in the US since 2017.
This is the second eclipse in seven years to be seen in the US as darkness moves from a southwest-to-northeast path across the continent.
According to NASA, the path of the eclipse continues from Mexico, entering the United States in Texas, and traveling through Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. Small parts of Tennessee and Michigan will also experience the total solar eclipse. The eclipse will enter Canada in Southern Ontario, and continue through Quebec, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Cape Breton.
The eclipse will exit continental North America on the Atlantic coast of Newfoundland, Canada, at 5:16 p.m
The eclipse will enter South Western Indiana about 1:34p and exit Indiana to the northeast about 4:34p and can be seen in Salem and parts of Washington County.
Washington County is along the southernmost point of the eclipse being seen in Indiana and those living around the Pekin and Borden areas will only be able to see a partial eclipse.
In fact, Salem will only see 1 minute and 58 seconds of total darkness.
Beal, located in Knox County, and Vincennes, are along the path of totality and will experience the most total darkness in Indiana – four minutes and 5 seconds.
In retrospect, Zanesville, a town in Allen and Wells Counties in Indiana will only see 7.3 seconds of total darkness.
The point of greatest eclipse will last 4 minutes, 28 seconds — the longest duration of totality on land since 2010 — and can be seen just north of Nazas, Mexico, which has a population of about 4,000 people.
The last total eclipse in this area was on August 21, 2017 and the point of greatest totality was in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, which lasted for 2 minutes and 41.2 seconds, which is one of the longer durations.
WSLM was at that event and plans to livestream this year’s total eclipse on April 8.
Orchardale Shepherd Farm was chosen as the spot for maximum totality in Hopkinsville. More than 100,000 people attended the event, with most driving in on Monday morning.
The longest eclipse being 6 minutes and 54 seconds) occurred over the contiguous United States on March 7, 1970 along the southern portions of the Eastern Seaboard, from Florida to Virginia.
Festivals, viewing parties and other special events are being planned across the state.
WSLM RADIO and WRLW TV 17 will be live streaming the eclipse on wslmradio.com.
You can also go to a link at wslmradio.com and see a virtual look at what the eclipse will look like where you live.
It is not known what the weather will be but cloudy skies and rain will impact the viewing of the event.
The only safe way to look directly at the sun during an eclipse is through special-purpose solar filters, like eclipse glasses or handheld solar viewers.
Remember the only safe time to look at the sun without solar filters is during the time of darkness during a total eclipse.
The next total solar eclipse that can be seen from the contiguous United States will be on Aug. 23, 2044.
Here are a list of Totality Times around Indiana.
THE MOST TOTALITY WILL BE IN BEAL and VINCENNES, INDIANA
4 MINUTES – 5 SECONDS
TOTALITY IN SALEM, IN
1 MINUTE – 58 SECONDS
OTHER AREA CITIES and TIMES OF TOTALITY
- Bloomington – 4m 2s
- Bedford – 3m 42.2s
- Mitchell – 3m 24.7s
- Brownstown – 3m 7.7s
- Seymour – 3m 6.9s
- Paoli – 2m 49.4s
- Scottsburg – 0m 54s
- Pekin, IN – No Data
TOTAL DARKNESS IN SALEM BEGINS – @3:05:54p
TOTAL DARKNESS IN SALEM ENDS – 3:08:15
LIVE STREAMING ON WSLMRADIO.COM and WSLM’s YOUTUBE Channel.
