Calm down, everyone. If things start looking a little funky outside this afternoon, it's not end times: that's just the moon getting in between us and the sun

According to CNN, the sun will "look like a fingernail as it sets in the west" this afternoon, beginning in the Bay Area at 1:52 p.m. and ending at 4:32 p.m. The best time to check today's solar eclipse out, however, should be between 3-3:30, when about 40% of the sun will be obscured.

Locally, the Chabot Space and Science Center in Oakland and the Foothill College Observatory in the Los Altos Hills will be holding viewing eclipseparties today, beginning at 1:45 and 2, respectively.

Just remember, whatever you do, don't look at the sun (even in sunglasses). I know, I know, who needs to be told that? But still, according to NASA, every time there's an eclipse, people end up in emergency rooms with retinal burns because they did precisely that. So, it happens.

Instead of looking straight at the sun like a dummy, make a pinhole viewer like in the video below, or just check it out as it's projected through the leaves of a tree. That's just as fun, you can actually see it, and you won't end up blind.