AUSTIN, Texas (KXAN) -- The total solar eclipse on April 8 is a truly rare celestial event. Millions are expected to travel for it and it will offer a rare look at every planet in our solar system – provided the weather cooperates.
"All of the naked eye planets are there," said Lara Eakins with the University of Texas Department of Astronomy. The eclipse will block out all of the sun's light during totality, making the night sky visible for anyone with a clear view.
"It's not going to be like, you know, really, really dark. So that is going to limit your ability to see Saturn, Mars and Mercury. But Venus, definitely, you should be able to pick out because you can see Venus in the daytime now," Eakins said.
All of the visible planets and a comet will be in the sky, but where do you look? The below illustration lays it out for you:
Venus and Jupiter will be visible to the naked eye, but the other planets will require binoculars or a telescope. A comet, passing near Jupiter, may be visible with the naked eye if it flares up during the event.
Eakins describes the event as twilight conditions, with a faint glow along the horizon. "Even that little tiny sliver of the disk of the sun when it's showing, like right before and after totality, is already enough to start washing the sky back out."
Astronomy during an eclipse has been done before. During the 1919 eclipse, astronomers were able to observe several stars they thought they shouldn't be able to and, in the process, proved Einstein's Theory of Relativity.
Tips for viewing the planets and stars during the eclipse
Viewing the stars and planets will be challenging, and the shorter amount of time you have in totality, the more difficult it will be to spot everything you're looking for.
You can use binoculars or a telescope during totality, when the moon fully blocks out the sun, but only during totality. In the moments leading up to and after totality, you will risk damaging your eyes because of the brightness of the sun.
One trick you can use is grabbing an eye patch. "A lot of amateur astronomers do that. While they're setting up their equipment, they'll put an eyepatch on their main observing eye, let it go ahead and dark adapt so that when they get everything set up, they're ready to go," Eakins said.
All of this is, of course, dependent on the weather. While thin clouds won't fully obscure the sky, storm clouds will make it impossible to see the night sky.