University of North Texas 'over the moon' about solar eclipse this weekend
DENTON, Texas - The best place to see the big solar eclipse this Saturday is Central and South Texas. But even here in the DFW area, it will be a spectacular sight.
The University of North Texas is one of many places getting ready for the viewing, which coincides with a home football game at the UNT campus.
Solar-certified glasses are the safest way to fully experience the upcoming partial solar eclipse this coming Saturday.
The University of North Texas Department of Physics is ‘over the moon,' excited about the rare event that will begin Saturday morning around 10:20 a.m. They’re preparing with the help of a simulator that mimics what will happen.
"The moon is starting to move onto the Sun as it moves towards what we’re gonna call maximum in a little bit. It’ll eventually get to the point where it’s covering about 80% of the Sun's surface from our perspective here on Earth," said Ryan Bennett with UNT. "This is exactly what we’re going to see at maximum from the DFW area. After this kind of settles, this will sit like this for just a few moments. Then, it’ll start to move off."
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On Saturday, it will all be happening during the university’s 11 a.m. home football game against the Temple Owls.
Everyone entering the stadium will get solar-certified glasses for safe viewing. It’s expected to last in our area until roughly 1:30 p.m.
"It won’t get very dark not even covered 80%. It doesn’t dark in the sky too much. But what will happen is it will get slightly cooler," Bennett said.
The physics department is hosting two campus events with telescopes, glasses and activities.
"It gets the public’s attention. We’ve gotten more phone calls in the last few weeks than we’ve gotten in a long time," Bennett said. "It gets the public all engaged in science and what I’m