For a handful of minutes, the skies will darken Monday in a total solar eclipse where the sun鈥檚 rays will be completely blocked by the moon鈥檚 orbit 鈥� something Hoosiers can only view with special glasses, but more on that later.

Our sister outlet, the Kansas Reflector, compiled its own , which we鈥檝e tweaked to fit our Hoosier audience. Our Kansas neighbors aren鈥檛 in the path of totality like Indiana but provided some great context before the big event.

Wait! There鈥檚 going to be a solar eclipse?

Yes! On Monday, April 8, 2024, to be precise. Portions of the state will be completely dark for just over four minutes, as detailed by the Indiana Department of Homeland Security. While the skies will start to darken as early as 1:50 p.m., complete darkness will occur in Indianapolis between 3:06 and 3:09 before the skies lighten again at 4:23. Other parts of the state will roughly follow that same timeline but may be off by a few minutes.

What鈥檚 a solar eclipse again?

According to our : 鈥淎 total solar eclipse happens when the Moon passes between the Sun and Earth, completely blocking the face of the Sun. The sky will darken as if it were dawn or dusk.鈥�

Just imagine that you鈥檙e watching an important TV program and your beloved spouse passes in front of the set. They instantly become much less beloved.

Now, let鈥檚 equate your TV set with the sun and your spouse with the moon. It鈥檚 just like that.

Who will get to see it?

All of Indiana will experience some portion of the eclipse but a portion of the state will be in the 鈥淧ath of Totality,鈥� where the moon will completely block the sun. This band, stretching from Bluffton to Evansville, has attracted for the rare event.

How rare? While partial solar eclipses happen two or three times each year somewhere on earth 鈥� and there are roughly two total solar eclipses every three years 鈥� Indiana won鈥檛 experience another until .

Any advice on watching it?

Don鈥檛 look at the eclipse with your naked eyes. Let me repeat that, in italics: Don鈥檛 look at the eclipse with your naked eyes.

The sun is usually so bright that we can鈥檛 physically stand to look at it. An eclipse cuts down on the brightness, but doesn鈥檛 stop solar radiation that can cause . This happens to people. It literally scars their retinas. They see a phantom image of the sun for the rest of their lives.

But I can still sneak a peek, right?

Please don鈥檛 do that. If you don鈥檛 believe me, listen to Shannon Schmoll, the director of the Abrams Planetarium at Michigan State University.

鈥淲e don鈥檛 ever, ever want to look directly at the sun. It will harm our eyes and can cause permanent damage,鈥� she told journalists during a . 鈥淪o to look at this, you need to use either eclipse glasses or some sort of eclipse viewers.鈥�

So where do I find those solar viewers?

The American Astronomical Society of reputable manufacturers and retailers. For the record, they do not recommend going to your prominent online retailer of choice and searching for 鈥渃heap eclipse glasses.鈥� You can do better. For goodness鈥� sake, think of your eyes.

Some public libraries are distributing glasses and the Department of Natural Resources has .

Could I just use a camera instead?

Nope. An unfiltered look at the eclipse will leave your fancy digital camera . You need a specialized to take photos of the event with a standalone or phone camera.

Okay, okay. Let鈥檚 get glasses and filters aplenty. But does this mean the world is about to end?

No. Millennia of eclipses have come and gone, and , for better or worse.

People are handling this totally normally and rationally online, right?

Haha. Of course they aren鈥檛!

A bonkers story from online technology website some of the wilder claims circulating online. Among them: The eclipse will bring down electrical grids and cellphone service, it will disrupt the 鈥溾�� in which we all live, and assorted Biblical nonsense.

Will animals act all weird?

Take a read through the . In short, we know that birds and insects quiet down during an eclipse, but they don鈥檛 freak out or anything.

鈥淭he eclipse is strong enough to suppress that daytime diurnal activity 鈥� of day-flying insects and birds going to roost 鈥� but it鈥檚 not strong enough to initiate the kind of typical nocturnal behaviors we see at sunset,鈥� said Andrew Farnsworth of the Center for Avian Population Studies at the Cornell University Lab of Ornithology.

For their part, the Indiana Department of Natural Resources if they have trouble with leashes but note that animals, generally, don鈥檛 look directly at the sun.

What is the state government doing?

In anticipation, Gov. Eric Holcomb has  letting Indiana call on a nationwide aid compact should the upcoming eclipse stress the state鈥檚 emergency response systems. Due to the number of people, officials expect a 鈥渨idespread and significant impact鈥� on Indiana鈥檚 鈥渃ritical infrastructure systems,鈥� including for communication, emergency response and transportation, according to the order.

Alcohol regulators are even getting in on the fun and will be able to .

If you might be driving, be prepared for potential slowdowns and traffic disruptions. Pack plenty of water, food and fuel along with chargers, maps and emergency kits. The Indiana Destination Development Corporation (IDDC) has for safe viewing.

And, perhaps our favorite thing, First Lady Janet Holcomb made 鈥楶ath of Totality鈥� deviled eggs.

Any events in Indiana I should know about?

Tons! The Indianapolis Motor Speedway, for example, was selected as a National Air and Space Administration (NASA) broadcast location. Now it鈥檚 got a packed schedule  multiple astronauts, IndyCar drivers, NASA officials and Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb. The brickyard will also host technical and family-friendly educational programming.

Speaking of the IDDC, they鈥檝e compiled a of all the other festivities around the state.

Indiana Capital Chronicle Reporter Leslie Bonilla Mu帽iz contributed to this story.

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Indiana Capital Chronicle maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Niki Kelly for questions: info@indianacapitalchronicle.com. Follow Indiana Capital Chronicle on and .

For a year and a half, 20 eager Virginia Tech students have diligently prepared their scientific balloons for Eclipse Day. Along with about 800 other undergraduates nationwide who will participate in the NASA-sponsored National Eclipse Ballooning Project, these STEM students will launch balloons with scientific instruments attached to gather more information about Earth鈥檚 atmosphere.

On April 8, a total solar eclipse will cross North America, tracing a path over far more populated areas of the United States than the last one in August 2017. The project, which Montana State University started in 2017 to involve STEM students in this historic day, includes 53 teams who will document an event that won鈥檛 happen again for another 20 years.

Angela Des Jardins, director of the project, says the experience provides students with hands-on opportunities that they don鈥檛 get in the classroom. Of the 75 colleges taking part, 30% are minority-serving and 15% are community colleges.

鈥淏allooning has been around for a long time, and some of the bigger institutions that have more resources, it’s easy for them to go do this kind of thing,鈥� Des Jardins says. 鈥淲hat’s really important is to give students opportunities that wouldn’t have them otherwise.鈥�

The project also offers students access to over 200 mentors and a speaker series where NASA scientists and other experts in the field offer career advice.

The program has two tracks: atmospheric science and engineering. Each group is focused on preparing its payloads. For the atmospheric science groups, these are instruments like radiosondes that are used to measure temperature, humidity and wind speed. Radiosondes are the same instruments used by the National Weather Service at least twice a day at the 93 stations across the country.

鈥淭he thing that’s different from what the National Weather Service does is, instead of just flying two a day, they [students] actually fly one every hour 24 hours before the eclipse, then six hours after,鈥� Des Jardins said.

Des Jardins says flying the radiosondes multiple times gives students a snapshot before and during the eclipse to compare the changes caused by the cold, dark shadow of the moon. 

For engineering team members, the payloads involve different types of cameras, such as GoPros and 360-degree cameras. NASA will be livestreaming the images they capture on its website.

The project is not only beneficial for documenting history and allowing environmental scientists to understand the atmosphere better as they research climate change. The highly technical experiment also gives students experiences they need as they pursue internships, graduate school and full-time jobs.

Virginia Smith participated in the 2017 challenge during her senior year at the University of Kentucky as a mechanical engineering student. Like many of the current participants, Smith came on to the project having little experience with technical electronics. She started by building boxes for the cameras to be placed on the balloon鈥檚 flight string. Her team had two balloons, one of which she was in charge of. As mission lead, she says, timing was everything. It was crucial that the balloon reached 100,000 feet right in time with totality, which occurs when the moon is completely obscuring the sun.

鈥淪tudents create timelines that allowed us to be at a particular altitude during totality and record footage, which was the entire goal of that project,鈥� Smith said. 鈥淎s mission controller, not only making sure that the other people who have payloads are ready to go, you’re making sure that you’re on that timeline. You have a very small window to hit for the launch. And if you miss that window, you’re going to miss your altitude target.鈥�

Smith credits the project from seven years ago for her interest in satellites and balloons. The project also helped her during her two internships at NASA in 2016 and 2017, where she focused on designing small satellites and did finite element analysis, which involves using calculations to predict how an object might behave under various conditions.

Now, as a graduate research assistant and Ph.D. candidate in aerospace engineering at Virginia Tech, she has been mentoring this year鈥檚 participants for the last year and a half, offering her first-hand knowledge to the group as a former mission lead. The team will be stationed at Three Rivers College in Missouri on the big day and flying two balloons.

What she learned during those internships 鈥渁ctually did come into play for the [2017] eclipse, because we were designing payloads 鈥� and making sure they could withstand impact in terms of landing,鈥� Smith said. The team had to consider multiple possibilities, such as the balloon landing in water, in a high tree or on top of a roof. 鈥淭here are all these scenarios that you’re looking at. How do you make a successful design to survive the environment both in the atmosphere and then also as you land?鈥�

Smith is excited to be able to view the total eclipse for a longer period this year. But she鈥檚 most looking forward to seeing the hard work the students have put in for several months, with test launches and payload development, pay off. Many team members are transfer students from community colleges and came in with different skill sets and no background in engineering or ballooning. This experience has helped multiple students get summer internships.

鈥淲e get to enjoy the eclipse and then we get to enjoy totality. It’ll be an exciting event for everyone, and most of the students have not seen an eclipse before. So this is also an opportunity for them to be able to experience natural phenomenon that will not be coast to coast in the U.S. for several years more,鈥� Smith said.

Corrections: The name of the NASA-sponsored organization is the National Eclipse Ballooning Project. The project reached out after publication to correct the balloon’s target altitude. It’s 100,000 feet.

When the Moon passes between the Sun and the Earth on April 8, 2024, it will represent a rare astronomical event that won鈥檛 take place for 鈥� a . For parents and educators, at least those who live along an arc of land from Texas up through Indiana and Maine, it offers a unique and memorable learning opportunity.

As STEM researchers at , we suggest three ways to make the total solar eclipse a fun experience for young children and along the way.

Get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for 社区黑料 Newsletter

1. Discuss historical versus modern understandings of eclipses

It is important that children learn to when developing explanations for why something happens. One way to do this is to compare historical and modern explanations for why solar eclipses occur.

Share with the kids that, historically, many people across cultures feared eclipses. Some thought they . Others believed they predicted bad tidings to come, including .

Contrast those explanations with easy-to-understand scientific explanations of today. Britannica Kids offers a great . Scientific American has a webpage that .

When contrasting scientific evidence with historical beliefs, it is important not to be critical of other cultures. Use the eclipse to talk about how scientific knowledge is built over time through observation. There are many things we do not know now that we will learn 10, 20 or even 100 years from now.

2. Have conversations using scientific language

Teaching children about the solar eclipse isn鈥檛 just about explaining the what and the why. It鈥檚 also about engaging in rich dialogue. Our prior research shows that young children鈥檚 science knowledge is . Both and play a role in shaping this language.

Use science-related vocabulary to enrich children鈥檚 understanding of the eclipse. Examples include: orbit, rotate, spin, reemerge, Sun, Moon, Earth, far, distance, total and partial.

and when adults use inquiry-based strategies. For example, adults can ask children what they see happening while watching the eclipse and why they think that is. Then the adults can ask the children to make predictions about what else could happen and provide evidence for their explanations.

Children can document their observations throughout the eclipse in their own using both science-related vocabulary and drawings of what they see. The journals are a great opportunity to discuss their ideas and have rich conversations.

3. Use household items to help children understand the eclipse

Three-dimensional models allow children to visualize things that are otherwise difficult to see, such as the orbit of the Earth and the Moon. Comparisons between the model and their observations of real life, especially when guided by a teacher or parent, about complex topics in science.

During the solar eclipse, the Moon moves directly between the Earth and the Sun. In small groups at school or at home, one child can represent the Earth, while another holds a basketball to represent the Sun and another a tennis ball to represent the Moon.

The child representing the Earth can orbit the Sun and rotate in place, experimenting with changing their distance from the Sun and Moon. Closing one eye, the child may eventually see the basketball completely blocked by the tennis ball when it aligns just right. This is what happens in a total solar eclipse.

In this exercise, children are not only modeling the eclipse but also building scientific vocabulary. Throughout the activity, parents and teachers can ask children to compare and contrast the model to their own observations. They can ask questions, such as why do the Sun and Moon look like they are similar sizes in the sky, even though we know that the Sun is many times larger than the Moon? If the Moon is smaller, how does it block the Sun completely? The key is to help children generate hypotheses, test their ideas and then develop new conclusions.

We hope these ideas will encourage everyone to take advantage of this wonderful scientific learning experience. We also warn you not to look directly into the Sun during the eclipse and to get the right . Looking directly at the Sun, even through sunglasses or cameras, .

This article is republished from under a Creative Commons license. Read the .

On April 8, more than 750 college students across the United States will launch hundreds of weather balloons into the atmosphere to research, observe and engage with the total solar eclipse as a part of a student initiative spearheaded by the Montana Space Grant Consortium.

Drawing from the highly successful NASA and the National Science Foundation (NSF)-sponsored (NEBP) implemented during the 2017, 2019, 2020 and 2023 total solar eclipses, this current NEBP initiative aims to broaden STEM student participation during the upcoming total solar eclipse 鈥� .

Students from 75 higher education institutions, including Minority Serving Institutions and community colleges will have the opportunity to garner atmospheric measurements that can only be conducted during an eclipse. 

The balloons, carrying long, hanging strings of scientific instruments, will enter the path of totality, the area on Earth’s surface where the moon completely covers the sun. 

People along the path of totality, which stretches from Texas to Maine, will have the chance to see the eclipse. For those outside this path, a partial solar eclipse will be visible.

NEBP hopes to 鈥渆nable inclusive STEM education for participating students, advance learners鈥� understanding of the process of science as well as create, enhance and sustain networks and partnerships.鈥� 

As anticipation builds for the upcoming spectacle, we wanted to share incredible archives from NEBP鈥檚 previous balloon launches. The breathtaking snapshots from the sky offer a unique perspective on past solar eclipses to gear up for the big day.

All photos courtesy of National Eclipse of Ballooning Project (NEBP) Education