JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – There are many events lined up in Northeast Florida to view the solar eclipse Monday afternoon, and one of them will be on the campus of the University of North Florida.
On Sunday, Jessi Skaggs and Ashley Meglino were setting up telescopes for UNF’s solar eclipse watch party, which is open to the public.
“I hope people will get a renewed interest in science. I hope they enjoy themselves, and I hope that they get to experience the eclipse safely,” Skaggs said. “And to inspire anyone who has an interest in this.”
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To make things memorable, they said attendees will get passports with different things they could do. That includes viewing the eclipse through the safety solar glasses, solar telescopes with a safety filter and even seeing the lines in the sun’s rainbow with a spectrometer.
“For me, it is sharing the experience with other people. Allowing people from the public, giving them a chance to see this. For them, it might be for the first time,” Meglino said.
During a solar eclipse at just the right time, the moon passes between the Earth and the sun.
Florida is not in the path of totality, so the moon will block only a portion of the sun, looking like a crescent shape. Floridians can expect to see about 63% of the eclipse, according to Skaggs.
“It will still be very cool and a little bit darker,” Skaggs said.
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There are parts of 15 other states that will be and will experience a total solar eclipse.
Back in October, UNF held a solar eclipse event during the last solar eclipse.
“Usually they happen across the world and we just kind of got lucky this year that they were too pretty close together just a couple of months apart,” Meglino said.
Some of these students from UNF will be in Arkansas for the eclipse, which is one of the states in the path of totality.
Last September, UNF students conducted test launches of weather balloons. They’ll be doing real launches during the eclipse through a program with NASA, collecting data on the condition of the atmosphere.
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Back at home, Skaggs and Meglino said this is a big deal because there will not be another solar eclipse in Florida until 2044.
The solar eclipse watch party at UNF will be held at the Coxwell Amphitheater from 2 to 4 p.m. on Monday.