2024 Solar Eclipse: When To Look Up In Florida

FLORIDA — After weeks of hype and planning, Monday’s 2024 total solar eclipse, has arrived to dazzle Floridians. The phenomenon won’t be seen again for two decades.

We’ll see a partial blockage of the sun in Florida with about 58 percent totality as the moon slips between the sun and Earth, according to a searchable NASA map. (Watch the NASA live broadcast below.)

Here are the eclipse times to keep in mind on Monday (all times local):

• Partial eclipse begins: 1:43 p.m.
• Totality begins: 2:20 p.m.
• Maximum: 3 p.m.
• Totality ends: 3:40 p.m.
• Partial ends: 4:15 p.m.

Fifteen states are in the path of totality, which extends from Texas to Maine in the United States.

The National Weather Service forecast calls for mostly clear and sunny skies on Monday.

What’s Happening Around The Tampa Region?
Great Explorations Children’s Museum, St. PetersburgThe museum will organize a group viewing of the eclipse at Crescent Lake Park at 2:45 p.m. After the eclipse, attendees are encouraged to explore the museum’s planetarium, which offers free entry to members that day. Non-members will pay a standard fee.

Hillsborough County Public Library Cooperative Various libraries in the Hillsborough County Public Library Cooperative will stream the eclipse on NASA TV starting at 1:35 p.m. These include:

• Austin Davis
• Bruton Memorial
• Egypt Lake
• John F. Germany
• SouthShore
• Temple Terrace

The Arthenia L. Joyner Library will host a viewing party for children ages 6 to 12.The 78th Street Library will also stream the movie “Dune” from 3 to 6 p.m.
James Weldon Johnson Community Library, St. PetersburgThis eclipse viewing party includes crafts and activities, such as constructing a viewer and experiments with UV beads. A limited number of eclipse glasses will be available.

Museum of Science and Industry, Tampa
There will be hands-on activities starting at 2 p.m. in the Primary Colors Amphitheater. Each ticket includes a pair of solar eclipse glasses. Cost is $18.50 per adult and $14.50 per child.

North Greenwood Library, Clearwater The library will begin distributing eclipse-viewing glasses at 1:45 p.m.
Pier 60 Sugar Sand Festival, Clearwater The first 2,500 people at this viewing party on Clearwater Beach will receive collectible eclipse glasses.
Pinellas County Library Cooperative Various libraries in the Pinellas County Library Cooperative are hosting eclipse viewing parties, including:

• Safety Harbor Public Library
• Seminole Community Library
• Tarpon Springs Public Library

St. Petersburg College Planetarium at the Gibbs Campus in St. Petersburg The SPC planetarium will host a free public viewing of the eclipse. Eclipse viewers and specially equipped telescopes will be available in the “quad” area of the St. Petersburg/Gibbs campus, near the Natural Science building, beginning at 1:30 p.m.

Be Sure To Protect Your Eyes

Except during the brief total phase of a total solar eclipse, when the sun’s face is completely obscured by the moon, it is not safe to look directly at the sun without protective eye equipment, according to NASA.

The American Astronomical Society has a list of vendors whose eclipse glasses have been certified as safe. The organization specifically warns against bargain hunting for eclipse glasses from online marketplaces such as Amazon, eBay or Temu because counterfeit glasses have infiltrated retail chains. Wherever you acquire protective eyewear, it should meet or exceed the international safety standard of ISO 12312-2:2015.

• Related: You Must Protect Your Eyes, Regardless Of Eclipse Totality: What You Need

Keep this in mind, too: Viewing any part of the bright sun through a camera lens, binoculars, or a telescope without a special-purpose solar filter secured over the front of the optics will instantly cause severe eye injury.

One other safe way to view the eclipse is with a do-it-yourself pinhole projector that shows the sun on a nearby surface. The American Astronomical Society has pinhole projector DIY instructions.