What you need to know about the solar eclipse of 2017

By now, you’ve probably heard of a total solar eclipse that will be crossing coast-to-coast across the United States on Monday, August 21. But how much do you actually know about this historic event?

First of all, a total solar eclipse is when the moon passes between the sun and Earth, blocking the sun. A partial solar eclipse simply means that the moon doesn’t completely block out the sun, allowing some of the sun to still be seen.

Only a few cities in the “path of totality” will see a total solar eclipse, but the entire country will see at least a partial eclipse. The total eclipse will make its way across the United States starting at 9:05 AM PDT in Oregon and end at 2:48 PM EDT in South Carolina. The last time this happened was in 1979! The longest any given area will see a total eclipse is 2 minutes and 40 seconds, which will be in Carbondale, Illinois.

So what does all of this mean for Delmarva? Locally, we can expect to see about 80% of the sun covered at approximately 2:46 PM.