What Time Will The Aug. 21, 2017 Eclipse Hit La Mesa?

LA MESA, CA – So you want to watch an eclipse, do you? Well, even though it may not be a full eclipse here in La Mesa, you'll want to head outside by 9 a.m. PST on Monday, Aug. 21, to take a look at what's still sure to be an exciting event. Locally, about 57.69 percent of the sun will be covered at the peak of the long-anticipated "Great American Eclipse."

The entire event will take about an hour and a half to happen. For eclipse chasers, it’s the party of a lifetime. A phenomenon like this, in which the eclipse barrels across the entire continental United States, hasn’t happened in 99 years. It was June 8, 1918, and America had just gotten out of World War I.

According to NASA, the (partial) eclipse will be visible as follows in La Mesa:

• Start of partial eclipse (C1): 16:07:36 UT / 9:07 a.m. PST
• Maximum eclipse: 17:23:24 UT / 10:23 a.m. PST
• End of partial eclipse (C4): 18:47:13 UT / 11:47 a.m. PST

If you'd like to see an interactive "preview" of what the eclipse will look like, check out this awesome NASA tool.

When it's time for the main event, the temptation may be to just go outside and look up. Scientists all agree: Don't do that! Even though the moon is blocking parts of its light, staring at an eclipse can be just as dangerous as staring directly at the sun.

NASA recommends getting a special set of eclipse glasses that meet these criteria:

• Have certification information with a designated ISO 12312-2 international standard
• Have the manufacturer’s name and address printed on the product
• Are less than three years old and don't have scratched or wrinkled lenses

"Go into your kitchen and get a spaghetti strainer or a colander," Tyson said. "Not with mesh, the kind with holes in it. Go outside and hold that up over the ground. Each one of those holes will act as a pinhole camera and you'll see hundreds of images of the crescent sun on the ground and you can watch the eclipse unfold safely…that's the urban version of watching the pinhole camera images through the modeled light of sunlight passing through the leaves of a tree. It'll just be fun."

The eclipse will also be more fun watched with friends, and there are parties planned across the country to celebrate the main event. So tell us in the comments, what are YOUR eclipse 2017 plans?

SEE ALSO:

• Solar Eclipse 2017: Californians Urged To Conserve Energy
• Sorry, California: Aug. 21, 2017, Total Solar Eclipse Will Only Be Partial In Golden State

— Patch editors Marc Torrence and Beth Dalbey contributed to this report / Image via NASA.gov