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MSUB To Offer Solar Viewing Glasses And Opportunity To View Eclipse Through Special Telescope

YPR Photo / Kay Erickson

An invitation is open to the public for an opportunity to safely view the eclipse through MSUB's solar telescope unit and learn more about the remarkable rarity from science department staff.

Chris Fryett, senior biology student, will assist in operating the remarkable telescope. He saw a solar eclipse as a kid and is excited to see another.

“I get to share it with my family and other people,” said Snyder. “It’s a rare opportunity.”

This is the first time in 38 years a total eclipse will be visible from the U.S.

Science Professor Stuart Snyder says the university’s solar telescope will not only provide an up-close view of the rare eclipse, but also make possible for attendees to “see really nice magnified images of the sun.”

Snyder says, “if there are sun spots out we’ll be able to see the sun spots” and that “it’s also really kind of neat to see solar prominences erupting off the surface of the sun.”

The solar eclipse will be visible from Billings starting at precisely 10:21 a.m. Monday, as the moon begins to touch the sun’s edge.

The total phase of this solar eclipse is not visible from Billings, but the maximum point, which is when the moon is almost exactly at the sun’s center, will be visible at 11:39 a.m.

Since the telescope only allows one viewer at a time, the university will provide special solar viewing glasses to the first 350 attendees that want to protect their vision while tracking the eclipse, from 10 a.m. - 12 a.m. on the east campus lawn.

Science department staff will be onsite to answer questions about the solar rarity and celebrate the occasion.

More information on the event is available here

Kay Erickson has been working in broadcasting in Billings for more than 20 years. She spent well over a decade as news assignment editor at KTVQ-TV before joining the staff at YPR. She is a graduate of Northern Illinois University, with a degree in broadcast journalism. Shortly after graduation she worked in Great Falls where she was one of the first female sports anchor and reporter in Montana.