Preparing for Annular Solar Eclipse October 14, 2023

The annular (oval) solar eclipse next year, October 23, 2023, will be visible (with protective lens) in an area from Oregon to Texas. Six months later, April 8, 2024,  a total solar eclipse will be visible from Mexico- US - Canada. Numerous

So, while the simple explanation of a solar eclipse is seeing a "lunar shadow of the Moon passing between Earth and the Sun"; the American Astronomical Society  offers a very extensive description. 

• Including the fact incidences of solar eclipses are disappearing because:

The Moon is ever so slowly moving away from our planet at rate of about 1.5 inches (3.8 centimeters) per year. As it recedes, its average apparent diameter shrinks. Eventually, the Moon will never be large enough to completely cover the Sun, and total eclipses will no longer be visible from Earth’s surface.

• Every 173.3 days (roughly every 6 months), the new Moon passes through one of two crossover points (nodes) where the Moon’s tilted orbit intersects the ecliptic.
• The Sun’s diameter is about 400 times that of the Moon. The Sun is also (on average) about 400 times farther away. As a result, the two bodies appear almost exactly the same angular size in the sky — about ½°, roughly half the width of your pinky finger seen at arm's length. This truly remarkable coincidence is what gives us total solar eclipses

The American Astronomical Society also offers dozens of resources, especially filters, in preparation for the eclipse;

• Solar filters for telescopes, binoculars, & camera lenses  
• "Eclipse Glasses" & Handheld Viewers 
• Solar Optical Projectors

TimeAndDate offers a simulation of the upcoming event

While Space.com offers an assortment of maps including a look at the path of totality for the 2024 eclipse using maps by cartographer Michael Zeiler of GreatAmericanEclipse.com.

And locally Rainbow Symphony offers safety devices for eclipse viewing

(meeting the Standard ISO 12312-2:2015) including scratch resistant lenses with an optical density over 5.

Choose from a variety of products including:

• •Plastic Eclipse Glasses | Eclipse Shades® | Wrap Around Goggles
• •Eclipse Glasses with a Choice of Commemorative Posters
• •Eclipse Viewers
• •Paper Eclipse Glasses

More News from Calabasas

• World Trade Month - Online Events During May the Int'l Trade Admin promotes events for U.S. businesses of all sizes to learn more about how international trade can benefit their bottom line & enhance job creation.
• Strawberry Festival: Local Vendors Vendors at the upcoming Strawberry Festival (May 18-19) originating from the San Fernando Valley are listed to ease your task to support them with a purchase or encouraging word.