Viewing the solar eclipse without special glasses

On May 10, 1994 Rensselaer was in the path of an annular solar eclipse. Perhaps you remember it. The moon passed in front of the sun, but it was at an extreme in its orbit—the orbit is an ellipse not a circle, and the moon is about 30,000 miles closer to us at perigee (the point at which it is closest) than at apogee (the point at which it is furthest.) The disk of the moon was not large enough to cover the disk of the sun.

One of the pictures that I took of the eclipse of 1994 is below.

The leaves of the trees act like many pinhole cameras. If the sky is clear on Monday, you will be able to see the eclipse by looking down. It will be a lot easier on your eyes than looking up.

(Here is a post on another annular eclipse.)