4 April 4-10, 2024 miaminewtimes.com | browardpalmbeach.com New Times | music | cafe | culture | Night+Day | news | letters | coNteNts | MONTH XX–MONTH XX, 2008 miaminewtimes.com MIAMI NEW TIMES | MUSIC | CAFE | FILM | ART | STAGE | NIGHT+DAY | METRO | RIPTIDE | LETTERS | CONTENTS | ▼ FLORIDA LOOK UP! WE AREN’T IN THE PATH OF TOTALITY, BUT IT’LL BE SPECTACULAR (WEATHER PERMITTING). BY TOM FINKEL S o you live in Miami and you don’t want to miss the upcoming solar eclipse? We can’t blame you: According to NASA, after the total solar eclipse on Mon- day, April 8, the next time such an event will be viewable from the contiguous United States will be on August 23, 2044. For the math-averse, that’s 20 years. That’s the bad news — or some of it, any- way. The other bad news is that no one in Mi- ami’s going to be able to see the moon completely block our view of the sun, because we’re not in the so-called path of totality. No one in Florida is. Or in Georgia, Alabama, or Mississippi, for that matter. So if you’re dead set on seeing the Earth get plunged into total darkness, you might want to book your travel arrangements now. (Eyeballing the map above, we suggest a flight to Nashville or Memphis plus a car rental.) When to See the Solar Eclipse in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and West Palm Beach, Florida The good news is that just because the homebodies among us won’t witness first- hand the wonder of a total eclipse, that doesn’t mean we won’t see an eclipse, period. South Floridians will be treated to a partial solar eclipse — about 46 percent of the deal, to be more precise. All you have to do is hope for a cloudless afternoon, arm yourself with eye protection, and look up starting a little after 1:47 p.m. EDT. That’s when the moon will take its first teensy bite out of the sun’s disk. (If you imag- ine the sun as a clock face, the eclipse will move from right to left, starting where four o’clock would be.) We’ll reach the max at 3:01 p.m., when 46.1 percent of the sun will be ob- scured by the moon. Miami: Partial phase starts 13:47:41 EDT | Mid-eclipse 15:01:52 EDT Fort Lauderdale: Partial phase starts 13:48:05 EDT | Mid-eclipse 15:02:30 EDT West Palm Beach: Partial phase starts 13:48:32 EDT | Mid-eclipse 15:03:23 EDT When to See the Solar Eclipse in Other Florida Cities Drive north to, say, Orlando or Tampa, and you’re nearing 60 percent of totality. Got enough gas money to make it to Tallahassee and back? We’re talking 70 percent! The further north you go, the later in the afternoon the eclipse will begin and end. Fort Myers: Partial phase starts 13:44:04 EDT | Mid-eclipse 14:59:57 EDT Jacksonville: Partial phase starts 13:47:44 EDT | Mid-eclipse 15:05:14 EDT Orlando: Partial phase starts 13:46:55 EDT | Mid-eclipse 15:03:29 EDT Tallahassee: Partial phase starts 13:42:11 EDT | Mid-eclipse 15:00:47 EDT Tampa: Partial phase starts 13:43:38 EDT | Mid-eclipse 15:00:38 EDT Frost Science Special Eclipse Programming Want to nerd out all day? The Phillip and Pa- tricia Frost Museum of Science in downtown Miami (1101 Biscayne Blvd., 305-434-9600; frost- science.org) is offering a full afternoon of pro- gramming around the event, beginning at noon. Safeguarding Your Vision We aren’t kidding about this. You really can go blind. Per NASA: “When watching a partial or annular solar eclipse directly with your eyes, you must look through safe solar viewing glasses (‘eclipse glasses’) or a safe handheld solar viewer at all times. Eclipse glasses are NOT regular sunglasses; regular sunglasses, no matter how dark, are not safe for viewing the Sun. Safe solar viewers are thousands of times darker and ought to comply with the ISO 12312-2 international standard.” | RIPTIDE | GET MORE NEWS & COMMENTARY AT MIAMINEWTIMES.COM/NEWS The path of totality and partial contours crossing the U.S. for the 2024 total solar eclipse occurring on April 8, 2024. Map via NASA Scientific Visualization Studio ▼ ST. AUGUSTINE THAT’S A LOTTA SCRATCH FLORIDA IS GETTING A $4.5 MILLION MUSEUM — FOR MOSQUITOES. BY ALEX DELUCA L ooking for a bizarrely niche museum to bring your kids? Or perhaps even a first date? Introducing — drumroll, please — the mos- quito museum. Conceived as an engaging way to teach people of all ages about insect-borne diseases, mosquitoes, and other pesky bugs, the Disease Vector Education Center and Science Museum in St. Augustine officially opened its doors to the public today. The grand opening of the roughly 6,000-square-foot museum, which fea- tures everything from interactive games about the Zika virus to an insect-themed outdoor playground, follows a five-year buildout to the tune of $4.5 million. The project is the brainchild of the Anastasia Mosquito Control District (AMCD), an agency with a voter-elected board that works closely with lo- cal and state government to curb the spread of dangerous mosquito-borne illnesses and levies property taxes separate from the county. “This Education Center will provide the resi- dents and visitors of St. Johns County with the unique opportunity to learn about vector-borne diseases, mosquitoes and other insect biology, and mosquito control in a fun hands-on environ- ment,” AMCD’s website reads. According to AMCD’s site, the district’s mis- sion is to “protect all people of St. Johns County from nuisance mosquitoes and mosquito-borne diseases.” Operations include aerial pesticide spraying and deploying larvicides to control the mosquito population. The district notes that ed- ucation is an essential part of any pest-manage- ment program. “This Education Center will be a huge asset to our education and operation programs and will help us engage in a more interactive and fun way with the community,” the site reads. The site says the center will feature live insects, real microscopes, and interactive displays, including a flight simulator that allows visitors to go on a virtual mosquito spray mission in a helicopter. While plans for the center have been buzz- ing for years, and it was originally scheduled to open as early as 2022, the opening was repeatedly delayed thanks to COVID-19. It’s reportedly the only museum of its kind in the United States. (There are at least two similar museums in China, which helped inspire the cen- ter in St. Augustine.) “It literally brings tears to my eyes,” Richard Weaver, business manager for the mosquito control district, told Jacksonville Today. “I’ve been working on it for so long, and to see kids enjoy it, it’s awesome.” However, some county commissioners weren’t always on board with the idea. In 2021, members of the St. Johns Board of County Commissioners criticized the mosquito control district for “wasteful” spending on the project. “To me, at first glance, this strikes me as wasteful and not something that we need right now,” one commissioner said at the time. But while another county commissioner, Henry Dean, previously said he couldn’t see the justification for the expensive facility and had “serious questions” about the project, he recently told Jacksonville Today that he merely took issue with the idea of a “mosquito museum” — not necessarily an “education center.” “They actually do great work controlling the mosquito problem,” Dean said of the district. [email protected] “TO ME, AT FIRST GLANCE, THIS STRIKES ME AS WASTEFUL AND NOT SOMETHING THAT WE NEED RIGHT NOW.”
