ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — New Mexico is gearing up for the upcoming eclipse with viewing parties and festivities to celebrate the celestial sensation Monday.

In our state, the eclipse will start around 11:15 a.m. and peak at 12:30 p.m. Monday.

New Mexico will experience a partial eclipse. In Albuquerque, the moon will block 70% of the sun.

Still, it should be quite a show and the excitement is high. That is why viewing parties are happening across the Albuquerque metro.

The New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science is ready to help you view it safely. They’re hosting a special eclipse viewing event from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. They will have solar eclipse glasses, viewers and pinhole projectors to help you enjoy it safely.

“During this particular eclipse, hopefully there’ll be more sunspots and solar flares and solar prominences that will be visible on the sun. At the event that happens at the museum on April the 8th, we actually have 3 special solar telescopes that will be available so that people can actually look at some of these sunspots and flares and prominences on the sun while they’re waiting for the eclipse to progress,” said Jim Greenhouse, the museum’s space science director.

The Albuquerque Astronomical Society is teaming up with Westgate Heights Branch Library in southwest Albuquerque to bring a unique viewing experience to a nearby elementary school. They’ll have specially-equipped telescopes for safe sun viewing.

“When you look at it through the Hydrogen Alpha, it’s clear that, yeah, even though the sun looks very quiet and quiescent and constant, there’s actually a lot of activity that’s going on there. That’s why I wanted to bring that telescope because it basically shows you that, you know, the sun, even though people think of it as always being up in the sky, that basically it does have a lot of activity and we’ll be actually demonstrating that activity,” said Tom Grzybowski with the Albuquerque Astronomical Society.

A smaller public viewing party will take place at the library itself. It’s on Delgado Drive, not far from Snow Vista and De Vargas.

Your children can make their own eclipse viewing mask at Explora this weekend. They will also host people for the eclipse viewing.

The upcoming total solar eclipse will be the last one in the U.S. until 2044.