Residents of the northern U.S. will have an opportunity to reuse their solar eclipse glasses Wednesday, when a partial solar eclipse will blanket the region. A solar eclipse occurs when the moon blocks some or all of the sun as seen from Earth. “When watching a partial solar eclipse directly with your eyes, always look through safe solar viewing glasses (‘eclipse glasses’) or a safe handheld solar viewer. Wednesday marks the first total solar eclipse anywhere in the world since the eclipse that crossed parts of the U.S. in April 2024. The next total solar eclipse visible from anywhere in the contiguous U.S. will not occur until 2044.