In preparation for darkness in the afternoon, the Washington Free Public Library is hosting a speaker a week ahead of the eclipse.

The moon will travel in front of the sun on August 21st. Director of the library Debbie Stanton explains, “We are super excited that Washington is on the path of the eclipse. We are not in the totality, so where it’s going to be completely covered by the moon, but we will have a really great kind of front row seat to the eclipse here in Washington. So the library wanted to do something just fun to kind of celebrate that.” The library will be bringing in astronomy professor Steven Spangler from the University of Iowa on August 14th, a week ahead of the eclipse. Spangler will discuss the solar program and the eclipse in general. The program is open to adults and children and will be held at noon at the library.

The day of the eclipse the library will host a viewing party with protective glasses available and the best time to see it in Washington will be 1:12 p.m.