Amateur astronomer Peter Kern, of Palmerton, will present a slide/lecture titled "The Solar Eclipse in History" at 1 p.m. July 8 at the Lehigh Valley Heritage Museum.

A solar eclipse will cross the United States on Aug. 21. A solar eclipse occurs when the moon's path causes the moon to cover the sun.Everyone in North America, as well as some other parts of the world, will see at least a partial solar eclipse, with at least part of the sun being covered by the moon. In the path of totality, about 70 miles wide, the sun will be completely obliterated from sight. This is referred to as a total solar eclipse and will be visible in parts of 14 states.The last time a total solar eclipse was visible from the contiguous United States was in 1979.Kern will discuss how and why solar eclipses occur. He will show rare, dramatic images of the total solar eclipse of February 1979. He will discuss the path of the solar eclipse this August, explaining where and how people can see this rare occurrence.Kern has 40 years of experience as an avid amateur astronomer. He has thousands of hours observing the night sky. In 1979 he took hundreds of photographs of the historic solar eclipse that crossed North America.Event admission is free to Lehigh Valley Heritage Museum/Lehigh County Historical Society members. There is a fee for nonmembers.The Lehigh Valley Heritage Museum is located at 432 W. Walnut St. in Allentown. For more information, visit

www.lehighvalleyheritagemuseum.org or log on to the museum's Facebook page.