Teens typically put glasses on to block the sun, not stare at it. But thats just what students in Steven Harness astronomy class at Kingsburg High School were doing during a recent partial solar eclipse.

Its actually pretty awesome, said freshman Marcus Reyes, 14, donning the special glasses that protect a viewers' eyes so they can look directly at the sun without damaging them. Its about 20 percent covered right now.

Harness students and Scott Silva, a member of Fresno's Central Valley Astronomers Club, set up four eight-inch wide reflector telescopes and sun spotters and donned eclipse shades to take advantage of the rare event Oct. 23.

This doesnt happen very often, so its something to see, Silva said. Itll last for only about an hour.

As teachers led their students out for brief turns peering into the view lenses, students and faculty alike took advantage of the ability to take pictures on their cell phones through the eclipse shades.

Its hard because of the light, senior Kristopher Dy, 18, said. It has to be completely dark to make (the sunspots) out. To see an actual eclipse is pretty rare where we live.

According to a NASA education website, the partial solar eclipse was visible as far north as the Arctic, as far south as Mexico and could be seen from the east to west coasts. Solar eclipses occur when the moon moves between the sun and Earth and blocks the light of the sun from reaching Earth. The moon also winds up casting a shadow on to the Earth at that time.

Harness freshmen students are learning about lunar eclipses and moon phases while English instructors are focusing on Greek mythology and constellation name sources in their classes.

Science students also get to examine moon rock samples and meteorites on loan from NASA during class, Harness said.

Were learning about space, time zones, the positions of the stars and constellations, said senior Matthew Flores, 18. Its interesting to learn about something thats not on this planet.

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Astronomy students experience eclipse