Almost four years ago, we were treated to the nearly total eclipse of the sun on Aug. 21, 2017. Hopefully, you acquired a set of eclipse glasses to safely view this stellar event.

Ideally, you safely stored those glasses in a cool, dry place so they could be used again. Before you put them on and look at the sun, some safety checks are in order. Look at the lenses. Are they scratched, holey, or otherwise not pristine? When you look at a bright lamp through the glasses, does any light leak through? If either of these conditions are true, dispose of the glasses properly. They are unsafe.

Regular sunglasses — even prescription or UV sensitive ones — are terribly dangerous for you to use for looking directly at the sun, so don’t. The only way to see this eclipse safely without the proper eyewear, is to use a pinhole projector. A design for a simple pinhole projector can be found here at https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/make-pinhole-projector.html.

Once again, the moon will partially block the sun. On Thursday morning, the moon passes in front of the sun from our vantage point here on Earth. This is a “ring of fire,” or annular eclipse, because the moon will be near apogee, so it will not completely cover the sun.

This occurs early in the morning of Thursday. Maximum eclipse from our area is only 29% covered, and occurs at 6:05 a.m. By 6:30 a.m., it’s all over. For best results, head to the coast if you can, as this should be an impressive sight looking out over the ocean. If you can’t travel, find a clear view of the rising sun over a field. You must have a nearly unobstructed view of the horizon to see this event.

For a more complete eclipse, several live streams of the event will occur. One can be found at https://www.timeanddate.com/live/eclipse-solar-2021-june-10.

This annular eclipse is a good preview of what’s coming up Oct. 14, 2023. An annular eclipse of the sun occurs on that day, and we’ll be able to see 51% of the sun obscured by the Moon.

Annular eclipses occur because the moon’s orbit is not perfectly round. It is an ellipse, which means that sometimes the moon is closer to Earth than at other times. The farther from Earth the moon is, the smaller its disc appears. This explains why the moon doesn’t completely block the sun sometimes, and an annular eclipse is the result.

The best opportunity for you to do some traveling in the United States to see a total eclipse of the sun is April 8, 2024. Then, people from Texas to Maine will be able to see the total eclipse for more than four minutes! Here in Robeson County, we’ll only see about 70% of the sun covered up by the moon.