Good morning. It’s Monday. Today we’ll look at a momentous day in New York: the day of the solar eclipse. Don’t forget to wear your eclipse glasses!
On the morning of Saturday, Jan. 24, 1925, New Yorkers traveled northward from Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn to find the best vantage point for the solar eclipse. They squeezed onto subway cars and trudged through the bitter cold. Their destination: anywhere north of 96th Street.
That was the edge of totality: North of 96th Street, the entire sun would be blotted out at 9:11 a.m., and the sky would grow dark. South of 96th St., a bottom portion of the sun would be visible, even at the height of the eclipse.
Nobody wanted to miss a spectacle that, in New York, “will not be seen again for 99 more” years, the article the following day in this paper noted.
Well, 99 years have passed. And the moon, earth and sun are right where they are supposed to be in relation to each other. Right now, the moon’s trajectory is nearing a point directly between New York and the sun. A total eclipse will be visible in parts of New York State this afternoon.
But those in the five boroughs will have to travel a lot farther to see a total solar eclipse this time around. The sun will be blotted out from the sky above a band of cities around the state, extending from Buffalo to Syracuse, all the way northeast to Plattsburgh.
In New York City, we will get a partial solar eclipse that should be awe-inspiring, even if it does not plunge the city into twilight.
The eclipse will be at its height around 3:25 p.m. on Monday, with about 90 percent of the sun covered by the moon, according to Dr. Jackie Faherty, an astrophysicist at the American Museum of Natural History. The sky won’t be as bright as normal, but it will still clearly be daytime, she said.
But don’t wait until then to look up — provided that you have proper eclipse glasses (which block about 100,000 times more light than standard sunglasses do). Dr. Faherty noted that one of the most dramatic moments for those outside the path of totality will be at the very start of the partial eclipse.
“It’s really exciting to watch as the first bite gets taken out of the sun by the moon,” Dr. Faherty said. That is due around 2:10 p.m. in New York City. Be sure to find a view that’s not blocked by skyscrapers. “Tall buildings can get in the way,” Dr. Faherty said. “But we’re in April, and the sun is actually pretty high in the sky around 2 p.m.”
The big variable is going to be the weather. “All you need is one cloud to ruin your day, one little cloud that just sits in front of the sun,” Dr. Faherty noted. Monday is likely to be partly cloudy in the city — a relatively encouraging forecast compared with that of some cities within the path of totality: The skies are expected to be cloudy in Buffalo, Rochester and Syracuse. On Sunday, The Buffalo News tried for optimism. One headline read: “So you’re saying there’s a chance: Breaks in cloud cover touted in final eclipse forecast.”
Don’t view it alone
Dr. Faherty said that viewing an eclipse should be a social experience. You are likely to have an urge to chat about what you are seeing, she noted. Share your impressions and excitement with others.
“Part of a great eclipse experience is feeling all of us unified as a species, together, and witnessing an alignment of our two closest astronomical, celestial friends,” she said. “I mean the sun is our host star, and the moon is our celestial partner, and they’re lining up with each other.”
Don’t look at the sun without eclipse glasses
After every eclipse, doctors see patients who complain about damaged and distorted vision after having looked up at the sun, without protection, and burned their retinas. For some patients, the vision damage is permanent. Looking at the sun directly for under a minute can cause such injuries to occur. Because there are no pain receptors in the retina, you won’t realize your eyes are being injured.
To avoid damage to the eyes, eclipse glasses or paper solar viewers are necessary. If you can’t find any, there are a number of other options.
Weather
Enjoy a mostly sunny day in the low 60s. At night, it will be mostly cloudy, with temperatures dropping to 50.
ALTERNATE-SIDE PARKING
In effect until Wednesday (Eid al-Fitr).
Crime & Courts
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Rift between the Police Department and “violence interrupters”: A publicly funded conflict mediator, known as a violence interrupter, from a longtime anti-violence group was hospitalized after he and a colleague were arrested during a confrontation with the police.
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Rikers settlement: New York City will pay more than $28 million to settle a lawsuit filed by the family of Nicholas Feliciano, who suffered severe brain damage after he tried to hang himself in his jail cell while officers stood by.
Arts & Culture
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Floral festivities: After the sun sets on the New York Botanical Garden’s extravagant Orchid Show exhibition, the party comes to life.
METROPOLITAN diary
Situps
Dear Diary:
A man is doing situps on a bench on Central Park West, his legs through the opening at the back and his feet below.
He is there a couple of mornings each month, pumping up and down with metronomic regularity. Today, he is wearing a hat, gloves and a long winter coat.
He often follows this routine for 20 minutes. Just situps. Every now and then, he ekes out a slow one, following it with a volley of strong reps.
Why here, I wonder, or is this just one of his spots? Does he do one-arm push-ups somewhere else?
This time, he’s a half-hour in and averaging 40 a minute, so that’s more than a thousand in the bag. Who’s going to tell him to stop?
And then he does, clearly tired. It takes a few minutes to unfold his legs from the bench. He pulls one out by hand and sits sideways for a while.
Then he stretches both legs out in front of him by hand and starts to massage his thighs. I see a U.S. Army sweatshirt underneath the coat. He stands with some effort, shuffles around the bench and grabs his backpack.
