Adler Planetarium prepares to welcome thousands for solar eclipse

CHICAGO — Tourists looking for prime viewing spots of Monday’s solar eclipse are flocking to southern Illinois, a region in the path of totality.

The astronomers at the Adler Planetarium are preparing for a big viewing party.

Millions expected to travel to see total solar eclipse

In a classroom at the planetarium, it may look like they’re preparing for a total eclipse of the art.

But 10-year-old Myles Pendarvis and 5-year-old Carsyn Richards are learning about the upcoming total eclipse of the sun.

The eclipse is sure to draw interest across the country.

It’ll be the second one to fall across a swarth of Illinois in just seven years.

But the next big eclipse won’t happen for two decades and the next one visible in Chicago won’t happen until 2099.

“That’s what makes this special, it’s a rarity,” Geza Gyuk, the planetarium’s director of astronomy, said. “You don’t see this every day.

The Chasing Eclipses exhibit, Gyuk said, is an exhibit about the experience of going under the shadow of the moon.

Gyuk has mapped out the part of totality, in other words, the line of darkness where the moon will completely block out the sun.

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“In Chicago, we’ll have about 94% coverage,” Gyuk said.

Astronomer Michelle Nichols said the moon’s orbit is tilted by about 5 degrees, creating enough distance to keep the moon’s shadow off of the earth most of the time.

“When the moon gets in between the Earth and the sun, the moon has its shadow cast by the sun and that shadow, if it falls across the Earth, you get to see a solar eclipse,” Nichols said.

But on Monday, as the shadow falls across the path of totality, the eclipse will only last a few minutes in any one place.

“That amount of time you get to see the moon 100% cover the sun for this eclipse is at most a little over four minutes in length,” Nichols said.

Adler officials expect a crowd of 10,000 or more to watch the eclipse outside of the planetarium.

Experts are encouraging the crowd to view it safely through special solar filter glasses that block out 99.99% of the sun’s intensity.

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