There is such a concentration of Airbnb and VRBO rentals for Monday’s total eclipse that they create a red line that follows the path of totality across the country and right through Rochester.

When AirDNA looked at the rentals, they found almost every single home for rent is booked from Texas to Maine. They usually see this around a Taylor Swift concert.

Jamie Lane is the chief economist for AirDNA, the organization that created the map.

Berkeley Brean: “Is there one thing that stands out to you the most?”
Jamie Lane, Chief economist, AirDNA: “Really how widespread it is. At AirDNA we track every event around the country from Taylor Swift concerts to F1 races, and this is really like a Taylor Swift concert happening in every city across this path, it’s really amazing.”

The home rental occupancy rate for Rochester on Sunday is 97 percent.

Brean: “On a scale of one to 10 on the eclipse, how excited are you?”
Emily Rice, Irondequoit native, CUNY astronomer: “A million.”

Emily Rice is an astronomy professor at the City University of New York. She also does Astronomy on Tap, a casual cosmic class over drinks with friends. She’s also from Irondequoit, and she’s returning home for the eclipse.
 
“These eclipses happen all the time, but that path of totality usually falls over the ocean or another place where there’s not a lot of people,” Rice said. “So this one that comes up through Texas, across the Midwest and over especially Cleveland, Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse — that’s huge.”

I asked Rice about the moment of the eclipse when people have their glasses on, watching the event.

Brean: “What should they be looking for?”
Emily Rice: “So this is very important. During totality, once the moon is fully blocking the sun, then you have to take the glasses off. That’s what we get to do. We get to take the glasses off and see the details of the sun. So one thing to do is look at the corona, this wispy outer layer around the sun. It’s 200 times fainter than the disc of the sun itself.”

Rice suggested two apps that will help you determine when to take your glasses off and when to put them back on.

— “Totality” by Big Kid Science
— “Eclipse Live 2024”

If you are watching the eclipse outside the path of totality, Rice says you should keep your glasses on at all times.

Rice does her Astronomy on Tap Saturday night at the Rochester Museum and Science Center on East Avenue.

Tickets are available through https://rmsc.org/events/galactic-getdown/