BROOKVILLE — The Brookville Chamber of Commerce and EyeDocs Family Care are sponsoring a solar eclipse watch party Monday, April 8, from noon until 5 p.m. at Brookville High School, located at 1 Pride Drive.

Also lending assistance for the event are the Dayton Metro Library, the Brookville Booster Club and Brookville Local Schools.

EyeDocs, located at 430 Arlington Road, is donating 500 pairs of solar eclipse glasses so party-goers can safely watch the eclipse.

Food will be available from Broke Smokers, Cali-OH Eats and What’s the Scoop.

Brookville is in the path of totality for the total solar eclipse.

Observers in Brookville will see approximately three minutes and 21 seconds of totality.

Observers will also have the opportunity to see the diamond-ring effect during the eclipse.

The nasa.gov website states, “the diamond-ring effect occurs at the beginning and end of totality during a total solar eclipse. As the last bits of sunlight pass through the valleys on the moon’s limb, and the faint corona around the sun is just becoming visible, it looks like a ring with glittering diamonds on it.”

According to television station ABC 27, in Austin Texas, the diamond-ring effect is known as “Baily’s Beads,” named after “Francis Baily, the astronomer who first widely publicized their existence.”

ABC 27 stated according to European Southern Observatory, headquartered in Germany, whose telescopes and observatories are located in northern Chile, the effects “are caused by mountains, valleys and craters on the moon.”

The Great American Eclipse website states, “the total solar eclipse visits Ohio on April 8 beginning at 3:08 pm EDT with the final exit of the moon’s shadow from the state at 3:19 pm EDT.

“Through Ohio, the speed of the moon’s shadow will accelerate from about 1,995 miles per hour to about 2,290 miles per hour,” the website stated.

The nasa.gov website warns “viewing any part of the bright sun through a camera lens, binoculars, or a telescope without a special-purpose solar filter secured over the front of the optics will instantly cause severe eye injury.

The website offers safety guidelines to follow during the total solar eclipse:

• view the sun through eclipse glasses or a handheld solar viewer during the partial eclipse phases before and after totality.

• you can view the eclipse directly without proper eye protection only when the moon completely obscures the sun’s bright face – during the brief and spectacular period known as totality (you’ll know it’s safe when you can no longer see any part of the sun through eclipse glasses or a solar viewer).

• as soon as you see even a little bit of the bright sun reappear after totality, immediately put your eclipse glasses back on or use a handheld solar viewer to look at the sun.

If you are unable to secure a pair of eclipse glasses, there are other ways to view the eclipse.

According to the Solar Eclipse Across America website, “an alternative method for safe viewing of the partially eclipsed sun is indirectly via pinhole projection.

The website states “cross the outstretched, slightly open fingers of one hand over the outstretched, slightly open fingers of the other, creating a waffle pattern.”

The website states “with your back to the sun, look at your hands’ shadow on the ground. The little spaces between your fingers will project a grid of small images on the ground, showing the sun as a crescent during the partial phases of any solar eclipse.”

The site also states “a colander makes a terrific pinhole projector, as does a straw hat, a perforated spoon, or anything else with lots of small holes in it.

The website warns “do not look at the sun through the pinhole(s).”

For those wanting to construct a pinhole projector using a cardboard box, NASA Goddard has instructions on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PI1ttQxXt5s.

If you are unable to go outdoors to see the total eclipse, you can watch NASA’s live coverage of the April 8 event by going to https://science.nasa.gov/eclipses/future-eclipses/eclipse-2024/live/ from 1-4 p.m.

Reach Terry Baver at [email protected].