There’s nothing like witnessing a total eclipse of the sun.
It doesn't come around often, but when it does, people flock to the path of totality. That's the swath of the country which will experience the total eclipse — if the weather's good.
Bottom line, they’re hooked. And you may wonder to expect if you’ve never experienced it yourself.
There's no way of knowing if you will see anything at all.
You travel to a place and hope there’s a clear enough sky so you don't miss it.
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That’s what Guy Earle of the St. Petersburg Astronomy Club will be doing on Monday.
He’s vice president of the club, which has about 400 members from the Tampa Bay region and beyond.
Earle has never seen a total solar eclipse. And since Florida will only be getting a partial one this time around, he's traveling to Ohio.
WATCH PARTIES: Here's where you can see the eclipse across the greater Tampa Bay region
So why’s he going now?
“(I'm) getting older," he said. "But also, we have some friends, family that are up in Ohio that we're going to go see.”
Plus, there won’t be another total solar eclipse in the contiguous United States until August of 2044.
Earle said his friend’s friend has a house that’s in the path of totality, the diagonal line across North America where people should be able to see the total solar eclipse — if the clouds don’t get in the way.
But if Earle doesn’t find the right conditions, he’ll move on to try to find a better viewing spot.
SEE MORE: Thinking of taking a last-minute drive to see the eclipse? Here's what to know
To see a total eclipse of the sun is transforming. It should remove any skepticism you might have about why such an event was so feared centuries ago when people didn’t have the scientific knowledge to understand it.
The sky darkens for a couple of minutes and birds and insects like cicadas make noises that they normally make at night. Some folks might notice a drop in the temperature.
And then it happens, the moon makes the sun disappear and you can safely gaze upon it, bare-eyed for those fleeting moments in time.
For some, it’s an almost religious experience.
Florida is not in the path of totality, so the people here will see a partial eclipse — again, if the weather’s good.
Earle said the effects in the greater Tampa Bay region will start at about 1:43 p.m.
“And it takes up until 4:15 to go through the full cycle — maximum is going to be about 58% of the sun is going to be blocked out by the moon," he said. "That should be somewhere around like 2:45, 3:00, but it's going to basically look like it has a chunk taken out of it.”
It's also important to protect your vision when viewing a partial eclipse.
There will never be a moment when you can safely look at the partial eclipse through binoculars, or telescopes without filters to shield your eyes from the ravages of the sun. And looking at the sun with the naked eye is always a bad idea.
If you do, you may burn your retinas, and that’s not something an eye doctor can fix.
Earle said to make sure the solar glasses you have say “ISO” on the inside arm.
The American Astronomical Society said that means they meet the international safety standard to protect your eyes from UV and IR radiation.
Earle said there’s a low-tech and free way to observe the partial eclipse, even without solar glasses.
“And that is to look under a tree and (at a) sidewalk, because the tree acts like a filter. And when you look down underneath a tree, you're going to see thousands and thousands of little crescents and that's the sun, because the tree is acting like that filter,” Earle said.
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Delta Airlines is offering special eclipse flights to chase the totality in the sky, but there are questions about what happens to those people who aren’t near the window seat on the side of the sky show.
Earle said there are even eclipse cruises like this one that map out their trips based on the best eclipse viewing areas.
And NASA is offering an online viewing of the path of totality, in case you aren’t in the mood to go out.
