Sioux Falls Humane Society re-enacts eclipse with cats

(KMSP) - The Sioux Falls Humane Society in South Dakota gave fans a unique, pet-friendly solar eclipse demonstration on Monday, no special glasses required.

"Is it cloudy and you can't see the sky? Were the glasses all sold out?" the organization posted on Facebook. No fears, we made sure we have an exact simulation of what the eclipse would look like. WARNING! You won't go blind from this eclipse, but you might fall in love."

Donate to the Sioux Falls Humane Society at http://sfhumanesociety.com/donate.

It was a cloudy day in the Upper Midwest for the Great American Solar Eclipse. The spectacle brought a record crowd to the Science Museum of Minnesota, where adults and children cheered and jeered the passing clouds. Some spent the downtime checking out NASA and other media coverage online, watching as the moon cast its shadow across the continental United States for the first time in a generation.

The total solar eclipse made itself visible across a 70-mile swath of the country for the first time in nearly a century. But the Upper Midwest only experienced about 84 percent of the eclipse’s totality.

“Totality is where the disc of the moon completely blocks the disc of the sun,” said Chick Woodward, Ph.D., the senior vice president of the American Astronomical Society. “84 percent totality is actually pretty neat, it won’t be completely dark but it should be a pretty exciting event. You’ll see a little arch of the disc of the sun, but even that small 20 percent arch, if you have an unaided eyes, is enough to cause permanent eye damage.”

The next total solar eclipse in the United States, visible from Texas to Maine, will be seven years from now -- in 2024.

Looking for a more official demonstration of the solar eclipse? Watch this NASA animation.