Planetarium Director talks solar eclipse in Times Herald-Record

The Times Herald-Record spoke with Raj Pandya, director of SUNY New Paltz’s John R. Kirk Planetarium, for a feature story about the College’s preparations for the Aug. 21 solar eclipse.

In “SUNY New Paltz to host eclipse viewing,” from the Aug. 12 Times Herald-Record, Pandya gave a practice run of his approach to viewing this major astronomical event using campus telescopes.

Pandya will join members of the Physics and Astronomy Department and the Mid-Hudson Astronomical Association to provide community members an opportunity to view the eclipse (safely!) on the New Paltz campus.

Weather permitting, the viewing will run from 1-4 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 21, on the Excelsior Concourse between Lecture Center and Coykendall Science Building.

The eclipse’s “peak” in this area will occur at about 2:34 p.m., when the moon will block about 75% of the sun’s disk.

The viewing is free and open to the public.