Tyson’s eclipse tip: Don’t video it, experience it

NEW YORK – Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson has a suggestion for anyone with a view of next week’s solar eclipse: Put down your smartphones and take in the phenomenon yourself.

He told an audience Monday at the American Museum of Natural History: “Experience this one emotionally, psychologically, physically.”

The Aug. 21 event will be the first total solar eclipse in 99 years to cut a coast-to-coast path across the United States. A total solar eclipse happens when the moon passes between the earth and the sun, completely blotting out the sunlight.

For those who can’t purchase special glasses to view the sun safely, Tyson recommends holding a spaghetti strainer to the ground and looking at the images it creates below, like a pinhole camera.