 With the 2024 solar eclipse quickly approaching, the East Kentucky Science Center and Varia Planetarium is spreading info about solar eclipse safety and hosting a special viewing event. The event will be held at the Varia Planetarium April 8th and a limited number of viewing glasses will be available. It's going to be a total solar eclipse. People might remember there was one a couple of years ago, but this will be the last one for quite a while. So it'll be an eclipse that is super exciting. And while in Pressensburg, we're not going to be in the exact path of totality. We're in the 90th percentile, so it'll still be an awesome sight to see. Make your ride one of a kind and see the experts at J&M Custom Auto and Off-Road. It's your customization candy store. Visit jmcustomauto.com and select your make and model. It's that easy. Window chaining. Remote start. Leather interiors. Sound systems. Front and rear bumpers. Spray and bed liners. Bed covers. Wheels and tires. Lift kits. Step rails. Even underglow lock kits and so much more. If you can dream it, we can do it at J&M Custom. The next total solar eclipse visible from the U.S. won't occur until 2044, but while viewing this event, taking safety precautions is vital. Whenever there is a solar eclipse of any kind, you want to make sure that you have the proper eye protection when it comes to looking directly at the eclipse. So regular sunglasses are not dark enough to protect your eyes, so you want to make sure you have approved solar viewing glasses, but basically you want to just make sure you're not using your eyes to look directly at that sun, even though the moon is going to be blocking part of it. It's still the full blast brightness of that sun, and it's just as dangerous for your eyes as normal. In addition to providing solar eclipse viewing glasses, the Science Center will be hosting food trucks, family-friendly activities, live streams of the total eclipse, and more. So on the Big Sandy campus where the Science Center is located, we will have our building open. The exhibit hall will be open. We'll have the planetarium open. We'll be doing different things like showing a live stream of the eclipse in the totality area. We'll be playing different shows and things like that. We'll just kind of be an open space where people can come in and out to learn about the eclipse if they like. We'll have solar telescopes set up outside. We'll also have some food trucks, so we're just kind of a hub for people to gather and to experience the event. For more information, go to East Kentucky Science Center and vary a planetarium on Facebook. Reporting for Mountaintop News, I'm Breanna Robinson.