This article, originally published at 8 a.m. April 5, 2024, was updated at 3 p.m. April 5, 2024, to include more information about MCPS dismissal times.
On Monday, Montgomery County residents will be able to see a celestial marvel: a solar eclipse.
While the county isn’t in the path of full totality where the best views will be, residents still will be able to see more than 85% of the sun covered by the eclipse, according to Rob Garner, news chief at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt.
The eclipse can be seen between 2:04 and 4:30 p.m., with the maximum viewing time at 3:20 p.m., Garner said. According to NASA’s website, it is only safe to look at the eclipse with special viewing glasses, and sunglasses are not comparable because “safe solar viewers are thousands of times darker.”
Garner said that because the county isn’t in the path of full totality and the sun will not be fully covered at any point, it is especially important to wear solar eclipse glasses to avoid eye injury.
During the eclipse, the sun will look like a crescent moon, he said. Those watching will see that shadows on the ground will change as the eclipse occurs.
Events, specials and places to get free eclipse glasses
Montgomery County Public Libraries will be holding a series of events at several libraries involving themed activities and also handing out solar eclipse viewing glasses to event participants while supplies last.
- On Friday from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m., the Kensington Park Library at 4201 Knowles Ave. will offer solar eclipse and space crafts.
- On Saturday from 11 a.m. to noon, the Potomac Library at 10101 Glenolden Drive will hand out free solar eclipse glasses and offer activities, creative crafts and hands-on experiments.
- On Monday from 2:45 to 3:45 p.m., the Long Branch Library at 8800 Garland Ave. in Silver Spring will host a solar eclipse viewing event on its plaza and will hand out viewing glasses.
Community members can also get free solar eclipse glasses while supplies last at Warby Parker, which has store locations at 1811 Grand Park Ave. in North Bethesda’s Pike & Rose, 4821 Bethesda Ave. in downtown Bethesda, and 134 Crown Park Ave. in Gaithersburg.
On the day of the eclipse, the Observatory Park at 100 DeSellum Ave. in Gaithersburg will be hosting a viewing event from 2 to 4:30 p.m. with solar-related activities and free solar glasses.
Jeni’s Ice Cream at 4918 Elm St. in Bethesda will offer a new Punk Stargonaut collection in honor of the eclipse, featuring three new ice creams, one highly requested returning flavor and a new topping.
On Friday, customers can receive a free pair of eclipse glasses with any purchase of scoops or pints while supplies last, and on Monday, they can add the fizzy Space Dust topping to any ice cream order for free.
The last solar eclipse visible in the United States was in 2017, and according to NASA, Monday’s eclipse will be different because the moon will be closer and the path of totality will be much wider.
This means that a lot more people will be able to view it. Around 31.6 million people live in the path of totality this year, compared to 12 million in 2017, and an additional 150 million people live within 200 miles of the path of totality this year.
The next solar eclipse visible from the U.S. will not be until 2044, NASA said.
Montgomery County Public Schools
The window of time to view the partial eclipse will occur around school dismissal times for most Montgomery County Public Schools students. On Friday afternoon, MCPS announced on X that there will be no early release for the solar eclipse and all schools will operate on a regular schedule. However, athletic competition start times on Monday have been delayed to 4:45 p.m., according to a Wednesday press release.
MCPS did not return MoCo360’s request for comment on policies and rules regarding students viewing the eclipse at school.
In addition, in the press release, MCPS warned the school community against looking directly at the sun without proper solar eclipse glasses.