Community Corner

How to View Sunday's Solar Eclipse

In the first solar eclipse visible in the U.S. in 18 years, the Earth's moon will pass in front of the sun before sunset on Sunday, casting a giant shadow across the land.

A solar eclipse is expected to be visible across much of the western U.S. on Sunday evening.

In the hours before sunset, the Earth's moon will pass in front of the sunβ€”the eclipse will start around 5 p.m. in Seattle, according to KING 5.

"Called an annular solar eclipse, the moon and sun will exactly align Sunday, May 20, creating a "ring of fire" around the moon because of the sun's larger apparent size," reported the Huffington Post.

Find out what's happening in Redmondwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The last solar eclipse visible in the U.S. was in 1994. In the Puget Sound region, people will only see a partial eclipse with about 80 percent of the moon covering the sun's diameter, KING 5 reported.

The view of the eclipse might be further complicated by grey skies. According to the National Weather Service, Sunday's forecast for Redmond is cloudy with a 40 percent chance of rain.

Find out what's happening in Redmondwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

NASA warns that people should never observe a solar eclipse with the naked eye, only through filtered telescopes and special glasses.Β To learn more about the eclipse, visit NASA's website.

Follow the annular solar eclipse on NASA's interactive map.

Are you planning to view Sunday's solar eclipse? How are you viewing it? Have you seen an eclipse before? Tell us in the comments.


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