On Oct. 14, a partial solar eclipse will be visible throughout most of the Americas. But for people in a narrow path extending from Oregon to Texas to South America, the eclipse will be annular, meaning that the entire disk of the Moon will briefly be seen in silhouette against the Sun. So during those few minutes of annularity, the Sun will look like a thin ring (when viewed through a safe solar filter). Unfortunately, the Sun won't be fully blocked by the Moon, so this won't be a total eclipse.
Here in southern Utah, the path of annularity will cut across many public lands, including Capitol Reef, GSENM, Bryce Canyon, and Canyonlands, and a number of parks (both inside and outside the path of annularity) are planning public eclipse viewing events. An NPS employee told me that potentially >100,000 visitors might be in the vicinity of the small town of Richfield, UT on eclipse day, and while I think that's a significant overestimate, it seems that nearly every hotel room from Richfield to Torrey is sold out the night before the eclipse. So crowds and traffic might be an issue.
For anyone who'd like more info about the eclipse itself, the American Astronomical Society (the main organization of professional astronomers in the US) has put together an eclipse website: https://eclipse.aas.org/eclipse-america-2023
Here in southern Utah, the path of annularity will cut across many public lands, including Capitol Reef, GSENM, Bryce Canyon, and Canyonlands, and a number of parks (both inside and outside the path of annularity) are planning public eclipse viewing events. An NPS employee told me that potentially >100,000 visitors might be in the vicinity of the small town of Richfield, UT on eclipse day, and while I think that's a significant overestimate, it seems that nearly every hotel room from Richfield to Torrey is sold out the night before the eclipse. So crowds and traffic might be an issue.
For anyone who'd like more info about the eclipse itself, the American Astronomical Society (the main organization of professional astronomers in the US) has put together an eclipse website: https://eclipse.aas.org/eclipse-america-2023