The word is out about the solar eclipse that will be traversing across the United States on Monday, August 21. It will be the first total solar eclipse in the continental U.S. in 38 years and the first total solar eclipse visible across the entire contiguous U.S. since 1918. The eclipse, when the moon will completely cover the sun, will stretch from Lincoln Beach, Ore., to Charleston, S.C.
Although Falls Church is not in the path of the total eclipse, there will be a partial solar eclipse at its maximum at 2:42 p.m. when the sun will be about 80 percent covered. Some of the eclipse will be visible from 1:17 p.m. to 4:01 p.m. A whopping 375 solar eclipse-related programs will be offered in the region, as both the Fairfax County Park Authority and library have planned several events for adults and children to learn more about this historic event beginning this Saturday, July 29, at the Sully Historic Site from noon to 1 p.m. There will be a presentation on the history of solar eclipses and how persons living in the area in the 1850s may have experienced them. A lesson on how to make a pinhole box viewer, safe for viewing eclipses, will also be provided.
The next event will be on Sunday, Aug. 20, the day before the eclipse at Fairfax’s Cub Run Rec Center at 2 p.m.
