Solar Eclipse on April 8!

Hi Everyone!

I just wanted to send around a brief note with some information about the solar eclipse happing this coming Monday, April 8.

First, you can find way more information that you’d ever wanted to know in my my recent blog post on eclipses.

Second, there will be a number of Chicago events happening related to the solar eclipse. Here are a few to consider:

• There’s a major watch party planned at Adler Planetarium with telescopes and eclipse glasses. The outdoor event is free and doesn’t require tickets - if you want to go inside you’ll need tickets.

• There’s a great watch party planned at the Museum of Science and Industry, with a livestream of totality in the giant dome theater and telescopes outside. MSI will also have telescopes out at Millennium Park, the Michigan Avenue bridge, and Oak Street Beach.

• There’s a watch party at the DuSable Black History Museum in Washington Park with telescope viewing and eclipse glasses!

• Many Chicago Public Library branches will be hosting a range of eclipse events!

• There’s an awesome watch party with a NASA ambassador at Pullman National Historic Park.

If you’re in the Chicago area, I highly recommend going to hang out and be part of the fun! Even if you can’t go to the watch events, it’s 100% worth stepping outside to notice that it’s happening. In Chicago, the eclipse will start, quietly, a little before 1pm, and will reach a maximum of 94% totality around 2:07pm. It then will end a little after 3pm. Near maximum, expect the lighting to feel weird, your shadow to look sharper, and for weird crescent sun shapes through the leaves of trees. A kitchen colander or even paper plate with a small hole poked in it will project little images of the mostly eclipsed sun on the ground - an eerie experience.

I know the weather reports are a bit spotty at the moment, but any small gap in the clouds will be interesting to look through, so fingers crossed!

Of course, if you can get off work and go to experience totality (and the weather permits it), I’d highly highly recommend it! Here’s an interactive map where you can plan your viewing location. Just be warned that traffic is expected to be horrible. I hope to be watching from a remote location in Ohio - fingers crossed the weather holds!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful week!

All the best,

Luke

P.S. For more information yet, check out this awesome interview my friend and astronomer Ashley from Black in Astro did with WBEZ.