The estimate is that about once every 300 years or so, a specific spot on the earth will experience a solar eclipse.
Some places are luckier than others so it’s not an exact statistic, but on Saturday morning, a stretch through New Mexico including Santa Fe and Albuquerque will be able to witness an annular solar eclipse.
An annular eclipse is when the moon’s position in conjunction with the Earth and the sun, does not have the moon cover the entire solar disk during an eclipse but instead display what’s called a ring of fire surrounding the dark moon sphere.
There are several events being held in connection to the eclipse in the area.
At Santa Fe Community College an eclipse watch partywill take place on campus outside of the Health and Sciences Center which will provide a clear, unobstructed view of the eastern sky.
SFCC Associate Dean Dr. Kelly Trujillo says it’s going to be a great event and everyone is welcome.
“We have a partnership with the Santa Fe Stargazers. They’re a group of amateur astronomers and they are going to bring some of their fancy equipment and telescopes,” he said. “We have our own telescopes (as well) with our planetarium here at the college. We are going to set some of those up. One is going to be hooked up to a larger monitor. The annularity will only last about three minutes or so, but we want everybody to get a good view of that so the monitor will give us that opportunity.”
Trujillo says the college has over 500 solar filter glasses to share with the public. They will also invite children to build their own eclipse monitor viewing boxes. The event will begin about 9:00 am, the eclipse will peak around 10:30.
Other eclipse viewing events are taking place around the same time including at Santa Fe’s Southside Library, the International Balloon Fiesta will be holding an event in Albuquerque as well as the New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science.
