A “ring of fire” will blaze across central Nevada’s skies when the path of an annular solar eclipse crosses the Silver State on Oct. 14.
“See it while you have the chance; it’s a rare event for us, and there will be a long wait for the next one,” said Paul McFarlane, director of the University of Nevada’s Fleischmann Planetarium. “It’s one of the most dramatic events in astronomy. … There is a partial eclipse that will be visible in Nevada in April 2024, but you’ll have to wait more than 20 years (until 2045) to see another annular eclipse in Reno.”
The eclipse will begin shortly after 8 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 14, as the moon begins to pass in front of the sun. The whole event will last almost three hours, but the annularity—when the moon covers nearly all of the sun—will last less than five minutes.
Reno-Sparks residents will be able to view the moon obscuring 85 percent of the sun at 9:21 a.m. To witness the ring of fire, viewers will need to be within the 125-mile “path of annularity” that crosses the central part of the state, including the communities of Battle Mountain, Winnemucca, Carlin, Ely and Elko.
During an eclipse, it is never safe to look directly at the sun without eye protection designed for solar viewing. Viewing glasses are available at the planetarium and at The Discovery Museum in Reno. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration lists viewing tips at www.solarsystem.nasa.gov/eclipses. Viewing any part of the bright sun through a camera lens, cell phone camera, binoculars or a telescope without a special-purpose solar filter over the front of the optics will instantly cause severe eye injury, according to ophthalmologists.
“It’s never safe to look at the sun directly; you are still getting direct sunlight even when the moon covers almost the entire disk, and you get the ring of fire,” said Brad Carlson, president of the Astronomical Society of Nevada. “Putting on the glasses and then looking through binoculars is just as dangerous. The filter needs to be covering the lens, not just your eyes.”
In a total eclipse, the moon obscures the sun’s entire disk. Annular solar eclipses happen when the moon is too far from Earth to seem to completely cover the sun, leaving a halo of fire peeking out from the circumference of the dark moon’s disk. At their peak, total eclipses create night-like darkness, but in an annular eclipse, daylight is only dimmed.
“Eclipses aren’t rare; they happen about every 18 months somewhere on the planet,” Carlson said. “But usually they happen where you aren’t. What’s rare is having one in your backyard.”
The event also can be seen indirectly by allowing sunlight to travel through anything with holes, like colanders, slotted spoons or holes poked in a piece of cardboard. The pinholes project tiny images of the eclipse in action.
“Even a Ritz cracker will work,” McFarlane said. “It’s not as good as using the glasses to look at it directly, but it’s a safe way to see it.”
Viewing activities are planned in the Truckee Meadows and across Northern Nevada.
The Fleischmann Planetarium and Science Center on the University of Nevada, Reno, campus has scheduled a variety of activities Oct. 14, beginning at 8 a.m. Free parking will be available in the West Stadium Parking Garage, and professional-grade solar telescopes will be available for viewing the celestial event, including the planetarium’s new robotic telescope. Dr. Melodi Rodrigue, an astrophysicist who used NASA space telescopes to study the universe, will be on hand to help visitors get the best views of the eclipse. The planetarium staff also will offer free hands-on crafts and activities, including making solar-detection bracelets. If the day is overcast, the planetarium will replicate the eclipse by beaming a live image of the event inside its full-dome theater. The planetarium is also showing the documentary, Totality!, which features the October annular eclipse and the partial eclipse due on April 8, 2024.
The Discovery, the Terry Lee Wells Discovery Museum at 490 S. Center St. in Reno, will open at 8 a.m. on Oct. 14 to host a variety of hands-on activities related to the eclipse.
Truckee Meadows residents who want to see the full celestial event will need to drive eastward to the best viewing sites. Hotel rooms are available in Winnemucca, Battle Mountain, Ely and Elko, but with out-of-state visitors expected to flock to Nevada for the sky show, they will fill up quickly. Dozens of campgrounds also are located throughout the area.
Ely holds ‘Ring of Fire’ festival
The town of Ely, 320 miles east of Reno, is holding the Ring of Fire Eclipse Festival from Oct. 11 to 16. The event includes trail rides, a pub crawl, “punkin’ chunkin’,” a talk on Nevada’s UFO history from UFO experts, and an excursion in a vintage Nevada Northern Railroad train. Lodging is available at area hotels and vacation rentals; trailer and RV reservations are being accepted at the White Pine County Fairgrounds. More details are available at elynevada.net/ring-of-fire-eclipse-festival/.
The Nevada Northern Railway Museum in Ely is offers a chance to see the spectacle from one of its historic early 20th-century locomotives, dubbed the Solar Eclipse Limited. Passengers on the ride to Keystone will be joined by NASA-affiliated interpreters and provided with eclipse-viewing glasses. Tickets are $60 per adult, $51 for seniors, and $30 for kids up to 12.
Great Basin National Park, home of Lehman Caves, stands of ancient bristlecone pines and very dark skies, is a prime area for viewing the event. In the Great Basin Observatory, a research grade telescope is available for public viewing.
Other Northern Nevada attractions within the path of annularity include Kyle Hot Springs near Winnemucca, Lamoille Canyon in the Ruby Mountains near Elko, Sheldon National Antelope Refuge, Thunder Mountain Monument, and the Black Rock Desert.
Viewers at the ghost town of Vya in the remote northwest corner of the state will be able to see the peak of the annularity starting at 9:19 a.m. People in Wells, near the Nevada-Utah state line, will begin seeing the annularity just before 9:25 a.m. Depending on the viewers’ location, the duration of the peak eclipse will be between two and five minutes.
Simulations at Fleischmann Planetarium indicate that the sky will be dark enough at the height of the eclipse for viewers along the path of annularity to see Venus and Mercury, as well as a few stars, including those in the constellation Canis Major. In Reno, where the event will reach 85 percent of annularity, Venus may make an appearance, McFarlane said.
Massacre Rim, a remote area in northern Washoe County, is among the nation’s few Dark Sky Sanctuaries and offers excellent eclipse viewing. The area is primitive and has no motels. Dispersed camping (camping outside of a designated campground) is permitted throughout the sanctuary. Surprise Valley/Cedarville, across the state line in California, is a gateway to the sanctuary, and while the skies aren’t as dark, that area may provide a better choice for inexperienced (or reluctant) campers.