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By DAN YOUNG

Daily Press

ESCANABA — On Saturday, October 14 if skies are clear, a partial eclipse of the sun will be visible in Escanaba.

Beginning at 11:40 am EDT the moon will pass between the Earth and sun covering about 35% of the solar disc at maximum at 12:56 p.m. This partial eclipse will end here at 2:15 p.m.

Please note: You must protect your eyes with safe certified solar glasses, an approved solar filter for your camera, binoculars or telescope. Number 14 welders’ glass or darker is also safe.

The portion of the sun’s disc that will not be covered by the soon (65%) will radiate the same amount of intense light as it always does, and can cause permanent damage to your retinas, or blindness.

Don’t be fooled because you have looked at an eclipse of the moon naked eye.

A lunar eclipse is safe to look at directly, because the moon does not radiate heat and light, it simply reflects sunlight. However, it is never safe to look directly at the sun.

If you have solar glasses or filters leftover from the August 2017 eclipse of the sun, please, make sure they are still safe to use. Check them now for any tiny pinholes or scratches. Hold them up to a bright light and carefully look for any scratches or bright pinpoints of light. If you see any, throw them away-they are not safe to use.

You can make a simple, safe pinhole projection viewer by cutting a small hole in a piece of cardboard about a foot square. Tape a piece of aluminum foil over the hole, keeping the shiny side out. Put a tiny hole in the foil with a pin or sewing needle.

Hold it up in one hand with the sun behind you and hold a pie plate or a black piece of tag board so the sunlight shining through the pinhole in the foil hits the plate. Look at the little image of the sun on the plate. Do not look through the aluminum foil at the sun.

Solar filters or eclipse glasses certified ISO 12312-2 (2015) or newer are safe to use as long as they are not scratched. Welder’s glass #14 or darker is also safe to use to look at the sun.

Buy solar filters and eclipse glasses from a reputable US dealer such as Astronomy.com, Agena Astro, B&H Photo, Baader Solar Viewers, Celestron.com, Lunt eclipse viewers (Amazon.com) Seymour Solar, Thousand Oaks Optical, etc. Do not trust your eyes to layers of exposed film, or cheap “moon” filters.

Weather permitting, DAS is planning to observe the partial eclipse in Escanaba from about 11:15 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. in downtown Escanaba. Look for us east of Jenkins Drive in the ballfield opposite the Veterans Memorial.

Times cited here were found at: www.thegreatamericaneclipse.com and www.mreclipse.com.