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Partial eclipse will
sweep mainland,
miss Hawaii

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Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- The moon's shadow will appear to take a Christmas Day bite out of the sun on Monday, giving Americans a rare look at a partial solar eclipse.

The eclipse will be visible over most of the continental U.S., with the best view in the Northeast, where about half the solar disk will be obscured. People in Hawaii or Alaska won't be able to see it.

A solar eclipse occurs when the moon is positioned between the sun and the Earth. This casts a lunar shadow on the Earth's surface and obscures the solar disk.

No place on Earth will see a total eclipse Monday. The sun will be most obscured when viewed from Baffin Island, Canada, where 72 percent of the solar disk will be covered.

During a total eclipse, the moon's dark inner shadow, called the umbra, strikes the Earth. During a partial eclipse, only the fainter outer shadow, called the penumbra, strikes the Earth. The Christmas Day partial eclipse results when only the penumbra sweeps across America.

A full solar eclipse can cause brief, localized darkness, but there is expected to be only a slight dimming of sunlight at maximum eclipse points in the Northeast on Monday. Daylight will not be significantly affected in the rest of the country.

The partial eclipse occurs after midday in the East and shortly after dawn in the far West, according to calculations by the editors of Sky & Telescope magazine.

The American Optometric Association warns skywatchers to not look directly at the spectacle. "Looking at a solar eclipse without proper protection can result in serious eye damage," the association warns in a statement. To view the eclipse, the experts recommend special equipment, such as a welder's lens, a pinhole projector or other indirect viewing equipment.

The association warns that viewers should NOT use sunglasses, smoked glass, polarizing filters, or photo or X-ray film to look at the sun. None provide sufficient protection.

Viewing times WASHINGTON -- Here are viewing times in some U.S. cities for the Christmas Day partial eclipse, as compiled by the editors of Sky & Telescope magazine. The chart gives the maximum percent of the solar disk to be obscured at each location at the indicated local time: Atlanta, 12:25 p.m.; 32 percent Chicago, 11:17 a.m.; 43 percent Denver, 9:44 a.m.; 27 percent Los Angeles, 8:23 a.m.; 7 percent New York, 12:47 p.m.; 44 percent San Francisco, 8:21 a.m.; 9 percent Seattle, 8:29 a.m.; 25 percent