Total Solar Eclipse: How Much Fredericksburg Will See, Timing

FREDERICKSBURG, VA — Excitement is building in Fredericksburg for the April 8 total solar eclipse. We’re not among some 32 million Americans living in the path of totality, but we will experience the phenomenon.

In the United States, the path of totality extends from Texas to Maine, but each of the 48 continental states will see some of the solar eclipse, which occurs when the moon slips between our bright star and Earth.

None of the total solar eclipse will reach Virginia, but the partial eclipse will be viewable. In Fredericksburg, the moon will cover about 87.9 percent of the sun at the peak of the eclipse, according to a NASA map that is searchable by ZIP code.

Here are the details:

• Partial eclipse begins: 2:04 p.m.
• Maximum: 3:20 p.m.
• Partial ends: 4:32 p.m.

The eclipse will last nearly two and a half hours from beginning to end in Fredericksburg.

Fredericksburg area solar eclipse viewing events on April 8 include:

• Solar Eclipse Festival on the National Mall: 12 p.m. to 4 p.m.
• Virginia State Parks plans to host solar eclipse viewers at its 42 state parks around the commonwealth. For a breakdown by park of eclipse start, peak and end times and the percent of obscurity, click here. At Woodbridge's Leesylvania State Park, eclipse viewing will start at 2:02 p.m., reach a peak of 86.7 percent coverage at 3:20 p.m. and end at 4:31 p.m.

The total solar eclipse starts in 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, as well as small parts of Tennessee and Michigan, before entering Canada in southern Ontario through Quebec, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Cape Breton before exiting continental North America on the Atlantic coast of Newfoundland, Canada.

• Related: Animals May Behave Oddly During Eclipse