On Monday, August 21, 2017, all of North America will be treated to an eclipse of
the sun. Anyone within the path of totality can see one of nature’s most awe inspiring sights – a total solar eclipse. This path, where the moon will completely cover the sun and the sun’s tenuous atmosphere – the corona – can be seen, will stretch from Salem, Oregon to Charleston, South Carolina. Observers outside this path will still see a partial solar eclipse where the moon covers part of the sun’s disk. NASA created this website to provide a guide to this amazing event.
Due to the distance and size of the Moon in relation to the Sun, only a thin path about 60 miles across will actually experience totality, where the Sun is completely obscured by the Moon. An excellent map can be found on NASA’s website. While the Oregon Observatory in Sunriver does not fall within the path of totality, we are conveniently close to the center-line, and are still expecting to see nearly 99% of the Sun blocked by the Moon. The observatory will open well before the eclipse begins just after 9:00 AM on Monday, August 21, with a variety of telescopes set up for visual observing and projected observing.