So you might have heard there’s a solar eclipse that’s going to happen Monday.

But what exactly does that mean, what are you going to see and how important is it to wear those three-dimensional-looking glasses?

A solar eclipse is where the moon passes between the sun and Earth and blocks the sun’s light, leaving it as dark as night in the middle of the day.

The phenomenon will even impact animals, making them think it’s night. You likely will be able to hear birds and insects that are associated with nightfall, such as owls and crickets.

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The celestial event is brief, but many people in the United States and the world don’t want to miss it.

That’s because the last total solar eclipse to cross the entire United States from coast to coast was nearly a century ago in 1918. The last total solar eclipse to touch anywhere in the United States was in 1979. The next U.S. eclipse will take place in 2024 and will cross from Texas to Maine.

If you’re staying in Jackson County, you will be able to see around 94 percent of the “Great American Eclipse.” It will start at 12:58 p.m. with the maximum eclipse being at 2:26 p.m. It will end at 3:50 p.m.

It’s extremely important for anyone planning to watch the eclipse to wear special eclipse-viewing glasses and to make sure the glasses are ISO certified to be “safe for direct solar viewing,” providing appropriate protection from solar radiation.

Dr. Noah Wahl with Seymour Eye Clinic said without the proper viewing glasses, people can cause severe and permanent damage to their eyes.

“If you stare at the sun without protection, you may experience damage to your retina called solar retinopathy,” Wahl said. “This damage can occur without any sensation of pain since the retina does not have pain receptors.”

The optometry office had a supply of 100 eclipse glasses available Wednesday and was selling them to the public for $2. In just one hour, they sold out. They had another shipment of 300 more pairs available Thursday, which were selling quickly.

Some area retailers have been selling the glasses, too, but many have sold out.

A limited supply of eclipse-viewing glasses will be distributed free at the Jackson County Public Library in Seymour and Crothersville on Monday for those who attend the library’s eclipse party at 1 p.m. The glasses were purchased through a grant from Science-Technology Activities and Resources Library Education Network, or STAR Net for short.

There will be live music from Elements of Jazz at 1:30 p.m., and the Medora branch of the library will open at 2 p.m. People are asked to bring their own lawn chairs to sit and watch.

“We decided to do a special program because this is a rare event,” said Lola Snyder, head of youth services. “An eclipse touching only American soil and so close to home, some people will not see such a thing again.”

With kids being in school and many adults being at work, Snyder said she is surprised by how many people plan on attending the library’s event.

“We didn’t expect quite the interest that we’ve had,” she said. “It’s been overwhelming. We are asking people to be patient with us as we try to accommodate as many as we can and ask that people be willing to share (glasses) if needed.”

The public also can attend a large-scale experiment being conducted by HAM radio operators across the United States. The Solar Eclipse QSO Party is being organized to generate data to study ionospheric changes during the eclipse.

Local amateur radio operator James Baker will set up at the Jackson County Visitor Center at 100 N. Broadway St. in Seymour.

To see 100 percent of the eclipse, some people are choosing to drive south to areas closer to the 70-mile-wide path of totality, which begins in Oregon and ends in South Carolina.

The Indiana Department of Transportation is expecting heavy traffic as people travel and is urging motorists to plan for congestion in southern Indiana before and after the eclipse.

Interstate 65 through Seymour will see increased traffic going to and returning from vantage points that begin in Bowling Green, Kentucky, and extend beyond Nashville, Tennessee.

People should avoid taking pictures of the eclipse while driving and should not wear eclipse-viewing glasses while driving. Motorists also should not stop and park along the interstate or on shoulders to view the eclipse but should turn on their headlights while driving during the eclipse.

Haley Deckert of Seymour is a fifth-grade teacher at West Clark Community Schools and said she is taking her class on a field trip to Hopkinsville, Kentucky, to see the total eclipse.

Hopkinsville has been nicknamed Eclipseville because it will offer viewers one of the best views of the eclipse in the country.

Deckert said the entire fifth- and sixth-grade classes at Henryville, where she teaches, are taking the field trip.

“It has been planned for months,” she said. “The reason we are going and what I hope my students get out of this experience is that it is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

Many area schools, including Seymour, Crothersville, Brownstown and Medora, have purchased or received eclipse glasses for students and are planning viewings, using the event as a teaching moment. Some schools plan to watch live television coverage of the event during the day, especially with younger students.

Longtime Seymour Middle School teacher Paul Elliott said he has been waiting a long time to not only teach about the eclipse but get to see it, too.

“We all are very excited about Monday’s solar eclipse,” he said. “I began preparing a PowerPoint presentation last spring in anticipation of the eclipse.”

This week, teachers have been discussing the eclipse in their classes with focus on safe viewing.

“We are discussing other precautions to take, such as using their hands to block light that might come in around the glasses,” he said.

Elliott recalls making pinhole viewers when he was a student at Indiana Central University, now the University of Indianapolis, to view the 1979 eclipse.

“Eclipse glasses were not as readily available at that time,” he said. “My professor, Dr. William Gommel, told us the next eclipse would be in 2017. As a 21-year-old college junior, 2017 seemed eons away, but here we are.”

Gommel passed away in 2014 at the age of 89, Elliott said.

“I know that if he were still here today, he would be as excited about this eclipse as he was in 1979,” he said.

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If you’re staying in Jackson County, you will be able to see around 94 percent of the “Great American Eclipse.”

It will start at 12:58 p.m. Monday with the maximum eclipse being at 2:26 p.m. It will end at 3:50 p.m.

A limited supply of eclipse-viewing glasses will be distributed free at the Jackson County Public Library in Seymour and Crothersville on Monday for those who attend the library’s eclipse party at 1 p.m.

There will be live music from Elements of Jazz at 1:30 p.m., and the Medora branch of the library will open at 2 p.m. People are asked to bring their own lawn chairs to sit and watch.

The public also can attend a large-scale experiment being conducted by HAM radio operators across the United States. The Solar Eclipse QSO Party is being organized to generate data to study ionospheric changes during the eclipse.

Local amateur radio operator James Baker will be set up at the Jackson County Visitor Center, 100 N. Broadway St., Seymour. Radios will be turned on at 10 a.m. and shut down at 4:30 p.m.

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