BEC Safeguards Night-Sky Beauty

ON OCTOBER 14 and again April 8, 2024, many eyes will be cast upward to behold a solar eclipse, one of nature’s most impressive displays. The October event will be an annular eclipse, in which the moon only partially obscures the sun, followed by a total solar eclipse in April.

A total solar eclipse occurs somewhere on Earth every 18 months, on average. But in any one location, a total solar eclipse is very rare, occurring on average once every 375 years, so anyone reading this will probably want to stop and take notice.

total eclipse of the sun.

Those outside the path of totality will be able to view a partial eclipse, an event nowhere near as dramatic as a total eclipse. Even if only 1% of the sun is visible, it is still 10,000 times too bright to see the exciting eclipse phenomena. You must be within the path of totality to observe the full eclipse.

Even observers who know what is happening can be caught off-guard by a total solar eclipse. It is eerie, awe-inspiring, unsettling, beautiful and often emotionally overwhelming.

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During a solar eclipse, the moon’s shadow is cast upon the Earth as the moon passes between our planet and the sun. There are two parts to this shadow—an outer shadow that covers a wide region, creating a partial eclipse, and a much smaller central shadow that creates a total eclipse. As the Earth rotates, the central shadow creates a thin path known as the path of totality. If you are located within the path of totality, you will experience one of nature’s most amazing spectacles—a

When an eclipse isn’t happening, many of us still enjoy the night sky. We live in one of the most desirable locations to observe the heavens and stars, and to aid in that, in 2018, BEC committed to following compliance guidelines outlined by the International Dark-Sky Association. Not only does this create less light pollution, it reduces energy waste. Also in 2018, BEC changed out every bulb in the city of Bandera to LED lights. LEDs are more energy efficient, have a longer life span and yes, at BEC they will cost you less than the alternatives.

BEC has some 4,509 lights, and more than half of those are LEDs. Later this year we will retire more than 300 lights to further reduce costs and allow an even better view of the night sky. D