The new solar eclipse countdown is beginning, and this time, Pennsylvania is getting a better show

If you think Philadelphia went nuts for the solar eclipse in 2017, wait until your (carefully shielded) eyes get a look at what’s coming in 2024.

Saturday is the start of a one-year countdown to the next total solar eclipse that will be visible in North America, and Pennsylvania will be a prime viewing location.

On April 8, 2024, the moon will block about 90% of the sun for viewers in the greater Philly area — all but a slender crescent. (The skies will still be fairly light — more on why, below — but noticeably dimmer than last time, when only three-quarters of the sun was obscured.)

In State College, the moon will block 95% of the sun. In Pittsburgh, the phenomenon will reach the high nineties.

And in Erie, shortly after 3 p.m., viewers will get the full celestial show — provided that clouds do not interfere. Total blockage of the sun.

Penn State Behrend, the university’s campus in Erie, already has ordered 50,000 pairs of protective glasses. And some area hotels already have sold out, according to Hotels.com.

At the Spencer House Bed & Breakfast, a few blocks from Presque Isle Bay, one hopeful customer has been on the waiting list for seven years, owner Steve Freysz said. The inn will not start booking rooms until later this month, but that customer gets first dibs, said Freysz, who owns the inn with his wife, Lisa.

“He calls every year to make sure he’s on the list,” he said.

In Philadelphia, the Franklin Institute will offer a variety of equipment for safe viewing of the eclipse, said chief astronomer Derrick Pitts.

That includes special filters to view it directly, and other gadgets to watch it indirectly — that is, projecting the crescent-shaped outline of visible sun onto a piece of paper.

Yet even that remaining one-tenth sliver of the sun will be quite bright — striking the Earth’s surface with the same level of radiant energy as it does on a very cloudy day, Pitts said.

“It’s one of the hardest things for people to understand,” he said. “That bright piece is so bright that the glare will overwhelm any effect the moon might have.”

That’s why special glasses or other forms of eye protection are needed.

As ophthalmologists warned in 2017, regular sunglasses are not enough. Also beware of cheap imitation eclipse glasses, which flooded online markets last time around.

Looking at the sun without adequate protection can burn the retina. That happened in 2017 to one New York woman, who burned a spot on the retina of her left eye — eerily, shaped just like the eclipse, like a cookie with a bite out of it.

Pitts advised purchasing protective glasses well in advance of April 2024, before any supply-chain issues or inflated prices.

“There’s not one thing wrong with getting your eye protection now,” he said.

The April 2024 total eclipse is not the only forthcoming solar show for North American viewers.

A different type of solar eclipse is on the horizon even sooner, on Oct. 14, called an annular eclipse.

As in a total solar eclipse, the moon will pass between the sun and Earth. But because the moon will be at its farthest point from Earth, it appears smaller than the sun and will not completely block it. The effect is of a black dot surrounded by a golden “ring of fire.”

To understand how that works, imagine holding your thumb in front of your face. If you hold it close enough to your eyes, it will appear big enough to obscure your view of large objects, even a tall building. But extend your arm out farther, and your thumb appears smaller and smaller by comparison.

Same thing with the moon, which is much smaller than the sun. In October, it will be so far away from Earth that it won’t be “big enough” to block the entire sun.

Not quite as dramatic as a total solar eclipse, when the moon totally blocks the sun for viewers in the right location. And in the case of this particular annular eclipse, the Northeast won’t be a great place to see it.

So for Northeastern U.S. viewers, the best forthcoming show is the total eclipse in April 2024, with prime viewing in Erie, if the weather cooperates.

Penn State Behrend is planning to hold a big viewing event on its soccer field, said Jim Gavio, director of the school’s Yahn Planetarium. If the weather is cloudy or rainy, the crowd can go inside to watch a video feed from NASA.

With good conditions, the experience will be unforgettable, Gavio said.

For the August 2017 eclipse, he and 10 family members traveled to Bowling Green, Ky., where the weather was clear and the sun was totally obscured.

The skies darkened so much that the temperature dropped 20 degrees, Gavio said.

“Crickets came out. Mosquitoes came out. And bats came out, because the mosquitoes came out,” he said. “It’s a totally different experience.”