Experience the 2024 Solar Eclipse in Killeen

Various businesses and organizations will be hosting a number of events surrounding the eclipse. We plan to have a list available in June 2023. 

The City of Killeen and Central Texas College are partnering on a large-scale “signature event” on the campus of Central Texas College on April 8. We will have presentations by NASA personnel, meteorologist Bill Hecke, and astronomer Warren Hart. This will also be broadcast on KNCT-FM so that other watch parties can benefit from expert commentary.

The Greater Killeen Chamber of Commerce and City of Killeen partnered on Business Town Halls, February 28 and March 1 at 2pm. We will offer additional town hall opportunities in June 2023.

We will host a map of watch parties around the city on this page, and we hope to have that available in April as well.

Stay with us in Killeen for Eclipse Weekend. We’ll have so many events to enjoy.

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The centerline of the eclipse enters Texas, and the U.S., as it crosses the Rio Grande River at the Mexico-U.S. border at approximately 12:10pm CDT, with totality beginning in that location at about 1:27pm CDT.

Texas is situated at a singular spot along the total solar eclipse centerline where the duration of totality is longer than anywhere else.

If the longest durations of totality in the U.S. wasn’t enough, Texas is also widely considered to have the best eclipse-day weather prospects in the country.

Texas will also be the place where perhaps more people will witness totality than anywhere else in the U.S., not only because Texas is such a large state and the path of totality covers so much ground here, but also because Texas is where the path happens to cross the three largest cities—San Antonio, Dallas, and Austin—it will encounter during its journey across the country.

Looking directly at the sun is unsafe except during the brief total phase of a solar eclipse (“totality”), when the moon entirely blocks the sun’s bright face, which will happen only within the narrow path of totality.

The only safe way to look directly at the uneclipsed or partially eclipsed sun is through special-purpose solar filters, such as “eclipse glasses” or hand-held solar viewers. Homemade filters or ordinary sunglasses, even very dark ones, are not safe for looking at the sun; they transmit thousands of times too much sunlight. Refer to the American Astronomical Society (AAS) Reputable Vendors of Solar Filters & Viewers page for a list of manufacturers and authorized dealers of eclipse glasses and handheld solar viewers verified to be compliant with the ISO 12312-2 international safety standard for such products.

• Always inspect your solar filter before use; if scratched or damaged, discard it. Read and follow any instructions printed on or packaged with the filter.
• Always supervise children using solar filters.
• Stand still and cover your eyes with your eclipse glasses or solar viewer before looking up at the bright sun. After looking at the sun, turn away and remove your filter — do not remove it while looking at the sun.
• Do not look at the uneclipsed or partially eclipsed sun through an unfiltered camera, telescope, binoculars, or other optical device.
• Similarly, do not look at the sun through a camera, a telescope, binoculars, or any other optical device while using your eclipse glasses or hand-held solar viewer — the concentrated solar rays will damage the filter and enter your eye(s), causing serious injury.
• Seek expert advice from an astronomer before using a solar filter with a camera, a telescope, binoculars, or any other optical device. Note that solar filters must be attached to the front of any telescope, binoculars, camera lens, or other optics.

• If you are within the path of totality , remove your solar filter only when the moon completely covers the sun’s bright face and it suddenly gets quite dark. Experience totality, then, as soon as the bright sun begins to reappear, replace your solar viewer to look at the remaining partial phases.
• Outside the path of totality, you must always use a safe solar filter to view the sun directly.
• If you normally wear eyeglasses, keep them on. Put your eclipse glasses on over them, or hold your handheld viewer in front of them.

Our thanks to NASA for this helpful information.