Thousands gather to watch 'indescribable' total solar eclipse in Indianapolis
After months (in Indianapolis Motor Speedway's case, years) of anticipation, a total solar eclipse passed over Indianapolis this afternoon.
A total solar eclipse occurs when the moon is between the sun and Earth, completely obscuring the sun. During a total solar eclipse, viewers can see the sun's corona — its outer atmosphere — which is generally obscured by the sun's brightness.
You can relive the moment here, and see what totality looked like at events across Indianapolis.
Photos from total solar eclipse across Central Indiana
IndyStar photojournalists Kelly Wilkinson, Mykal McEldowney, Joe Timmerman and Michelle Pemberton were out and about to capture all the fun. Check out their work!
Scroll through their galleries: See the eclipse and the people who gathered to watch around Indianapolis
Total solar eclipse progression over Indianapolis Motor Speedway
IndyStar photojournalist Joe Timmerman spent the day camped at the speedway to catch every phase of the eclipse, and the composite result is pretty stunning:
Indianapolis traffic after the eclipse moving slowly to northwest
For weeks now, public safety officials have been cautioning drivers hitting Indiana interstates after the total solar eclipse. Have a full tank of gas, have snacks, be prepared for slow-moving traffic. Well, if you're leaving Indianapolis and heading south, it looks like you're in the clear. But if you're heading northwest...
According to the Indiana Department of Transportation's TrafficWise map, available at 511in.org, it seems traffic is moving smoothly along the south side of the city and along interstates 69, 65 and 70. However, the map indicates slowdowns along I-65 and I-74 northbound.
All those Purdue fans are trying to get back to West Lafayette before the game, I bet.
— Holly Hays
Hope William Shatner enjoyed his time in... Bloomingdale?
Pop culture icon and 'Star Trek' star William Shatner spoke at IU Bloomington during the eclipse, and he joined CBS News live this afternoon to describe what totality looked like — except CBS News wrote in a now-deleted tweet/post on X/Twitter that he was in Bloomingdale, Indiana.
Womp womp.
Listen, as a person who's been a public writer and active member of the news media for...........what feels like forever, at this point, I get that these things happen, and they're super embarrassing.
But, also, as a born-and-raised Bloomington townie, let this be a warning for other outlets: Hoosiers will absolutely not let this kind of thing go for at least a few hours after they happen. So if it happens to you, just be prepared for feedback.
Read more from Katie Wiseman: CBS says William Shatner watched the total eclipse from 'Bloomingdale' instead of Bloomington
— Holly Hays
When is the next eclipse?
Did you miss this one, or are you already looking forward to the next? Well, the next total solar eclipse won't be visible over the contiguous U.S. for another 20 years. But fret not: there will be other opportunities to see solar and lunar eclipses (they just won't be as cool).
Read more: Did you miss the solar eclipse? Here's when you can see another (but it won't be as good)
'Eclipse warriors' stay until the end
While many people made a quick exodus after totality, Sara and Jennifer Glueckert decided to stay till the eclipse ended. The mother and daughter are “eclipse warriors,” said Sara, 69, who came from South Bend to join Jennifer, who lives in Indianapolis.
Though they watched the 2017 eclipse, this experience was their first time witnessing totality. Jennifer described the atmosphere at 3:06 p.m. almost as a peaceful evening.
“It was really cool how there was cheering and silence together,” Jennifer, 36, said.
They found the ring around the moon especially spectacular.
“It’s just something that I’ll remember forever,” Sara said.
— Domenica Bongiovanni
IMS spectators take in 'indescribable' moments of totality
Unlike other folks who traveled to Indianapolis for Monday's total solar eclipse, the Anderson family made the decision to drive from North Carolina to Indianapolis to see the spectacle on Saturday night. They left on Sunday.
Robert Anderson, 52, said his friends had seen the last total solar eclipse in 2017. He didn’t want to miss this one.
Rob and his wife, Lori Anderson, and their son, Josh, all agreed that what they saw Monday could never be compared to a partial solar eclipse. Lori Anderson said the over three-minute experience was “indescribable.”
“Totality is just completely different,” she said.
Joe Wojtulewicz, 53, and Michelle Harnell, 54, traveled to Indy from Chicago for today’s eclipse. They had been unsuccessful at setting up their telescope until @jadealexthomas and I arrived. We must be lucky charms! pic.twitter.com/YiwC5IIWed
— Sarah Bowman (@IndyStarSarah) April 8, 2024
Joe Wojtulewicz, 53, traveled from his home in Chicago to Carbondale, Illinois, for the last solar eclipse in 2017. He knew then he wasn’t going to miss this one, especially when it was passing by even closer.
“It was incredible, so I’d been planning this for years,” he said.
But this year’s eclipse in Indianapolis was even better, Wojtulewicz exclaimed. He said the ring around the sun was even brighter this time, and the visible solar prominence was unlike anything he’d seen before.
“I was getting emotional,” Wojtulewicz said, “this sort of thing just doesn’t happen every day.”
— Jade Thomas and Sarah Bowman
'An eerie twilight' fell over Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Andrew Nencka, 42, absolutely loved science growing up — “astronomy in particular as a kid was my thing.” He remembers building a big telescope with his dad when he was younger that was nearly a foot wide and 6 feet long.
That’s actually what inspired him to go into physics as an adult, and for he and his wife to travel four hours from Franklin, Wisconsin, to take in the eclipse from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. This is their first time seeing a total eclipse.
He brought a different telescope this time, this one a little smaller but just as powerful. They enjoyed having others come look through the telescope, equipped with a special filter, especially children.
Nencka and his wife Jennifer wished their two children, ages 14 and 12, were with them. But unfortunately they had state testing this week and couldn’t make the trip.
When the eclipse neared totality, the couple looked at each other with anticipation.
“It’s an eerie twilight light,” Jennifer Nencka said. “Like the calm before the storm.”
As the Speedway fell into darkness, she said she could see why ancient civilizations were terrified of the eclipse. But today, she was just in awe.
— Sarah Bowman
How Indy Zoo's elephants, sea lions and gibbons — and the humans around them — reacted to the eclipse
Just as the moon began to eclipse the sun, Aria was helping her dad Steve Crutchfield put together a special telescope made specially for viewing the eclipse. The mini telescope was small enough to carry around with them at the zoo.
Steve bought the telescope in 2017 with his wife and drove down to Nashville for the previous eclipse.
Steve, Aria and Mary Crutchfield flew in from Chicago to witness the eclipse but weren’t originally going to watch it at the zoo. Their original plan was to watch it at the history museum, but there wasn’t enough parking so they headed to the zoo.
As the Cruthfields scoped out the eclipse, zookeepers began feeding sea lions near the zoo’s entrance. They usually eat a little later and would normally be asleep during the eclipse, but the keepers wanted to see how they might react when the moon covers the sun, so the sea lions got an early dinner so they stay awake.
Minutes before totality, lines at the zoo’s attractions and vendors cleared as visitors found an open spot on the ground to lay back and watch the eclipse. As the visitors settled in, some of the zoo’s animals wound up.
Gibbons started singing again, and the sea lions began vocalizing. During totality, however, the animals settled down into the darkness. Flamingoes huddled together and chimpanzees stopped travelling along the newly built paths.
Visitors said the elephants, playful just before totality, stood in utter stillness during the entirety of the darkness.
Shawn Smith drove up from Kentucky with Ashley Monarch and her two children to see the eclipse at the Indy Zoo. They showed up at 8 a.m. and braved the crowds, finding a seat near the sea lions.
Smith had an old cell phone set up to take a time-lapse video of the eclipse.
As the moon passed the sun and daylight shone again, the lines for Dip n’ Dots and exhibits across the zoo started filling up again.
— Karl Schneider
As totality passes over Indianapolis, 'It just makes me think about what God is capable of'
Pamela Vaden, 74, stayed and watched the eclipse pass long after many other spectators left Crispus Attucks High School.
Alumni and community members gathered at the school’s museum on Monday to witness the eclipse but also participate in a spiritual ceremony with references to historic African celebration traditions.Vaden graduated from Crispus Attucks in 1967 and said she felt like she was in the presence of God when the eclipse reached totality.“It’s amazing,” Vaden told IndyStar. “It just makes me think about what God is capable of and makes me so excited.”
Janet Tate Anderson graduated from Crispus Attucks High School in 1970 and still loves to volunteer at the school and remains deeply connected to the community.At Monday’s eclipse celebration at the Crispus Attucks museum, Anderson and fellow alumni celebrated the spiritual passing of former loved ones by performing traditional African drum celebrations and a “pouring of libations."Anderson said Robert Chester, the curator of the Crispus Attucks museum, does great work at celebrating and educating people on Indianapolis’ African American community and history. “(Chester) always makes it so it’s relatable to our history,” Anderson told IndyStar.
— Caroline Beck
Tourists, Hoosiers and Buddhist monks experience totality together in Bloomington
Minutes before the eclipse, Aaron Schexneider, 28, and Sarah Clark, 28, sit in the shade. Tucked under a cornflower blue blanket in Clark’s lap is Dominic, just 15 days old.
Aside from the occasional gurgle or a tiny finger poking from underneath the blanket, Dominic’s presence goes unnoticed. Clark and Schexneider expected Dominic would be born shortly before the eclipse, but that didn’t stop the Louisville couple from planning the trip. Just keep the baby’s eyes protected and we’re good, they said.
When darkness settles on the young family shortly after 3, Schexneider takes Dominic from Clark’s lap so he can witness the false night before it vanishes. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience, the kind you don’t soon forget — unless you’re Dominic, of course.
As mid-afternoon becomes night, distant fireworks echo over Bloomington. Across the lawn of the Tibetan Mongolian Buddhist Cultural Center, jaw-dropped spectators try to make sense of what they’re watching.
“Dude, are you serious?”
“That’s actually insane.”
“People are setting off fireworks?”
A jumbled mix of delight and awe grips the audience. Buddhist monks smile gleefully and hold eclipse glasses to their eyes, children gasp audibly and dogs whip their heads around in confusion.
In the nearby woods a robin sings, 14 hours ahead of schedule. “If it had gone on longer, we might have heard some owls,” Indiana Forest Alliance executive director Jeff Stant said.
After a few minutes, the night relinquishes its grasp and sunlight sweeps back in like a little wave of sea foam upon the sand. Families gather up chairs and towels, discussing what they just saw.
Half an hour later the trees still ring with bird calls. Evidently, the humans aren’t the only ones wanting to debrief.
— Bradley Hohulin
Purdue basketball fans in Arizona watch eclipse ahead of national title game
As we said earlier, big day for Purdue. Ahead of tonight's men's basketball national championship game against UConn, Purdue fans gathered outside State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, to watch the eclipse.
Totality in Indianapolis
As the eclipse crept closer toward totality, a few of us at IndyStar stood at Meridian and Georgia streets in anticipation.
The temperature cooled. The white lights crisscrossing Meridian Street flickered on. What few cars were on the street parked and idled. And in the first moments of totality, awe-struck gasps and cheers filled the otherwise quiet streets.
We could hear them from the groups sparsely populating Georgia Street and the crowd gathered blocks away at Monument Circle. For a few minutes, everyone's eyes turned upward, faces unobscured by eclipse glasses, to marvel at the rare event. Totality hasn't passed over Indianapolis since 1205, and it won't pass over the contiguous U.S. for another two decades.
After about four minutes of near-silence, spectators once again donned their eclipse glasses and Indianapolis was blanketed in the sun's clear, bright light.
— Holly Hays
It's almost time!
We are minutes away from totality in Indianapolis, and the world outside our downtown newsroom is growing darker by the minute. We expect totality will last from about 3:06 to 3:09 p.m.
A reminder: You can view the eclipse directly without proper eye protection only when the moon completely obscures the sun's rays. As soon as you see even a little bit of the sun, immediately put your eclipse glasses back on.
More: Are your solar eclipse glasses safe? Here are three easy ways to check
The eclipse is well underway over Central Indiana now
A tip a seasoned eclipse-viewer gave IndyStar's Sarah Bowman: Use an extra pair of eclipse glasses to put over the lens of your phone's camera to take a picture of the sun.
Pro tip from an experienced eclipse viewer we spoke with at @IMS: If you have an extra pair of eclipse glasses, tape one of the lenses over your phone cameras for the best pictures.
Thank you Annette Smith, 60, from Louisville!
(Emphasis on the EXTRA pair of glasses) haha— Sarah Bowman (@IndyStarSarah) April 8, 2024
Visitors 'enlightened' by Buddhist puja ceremony in Bloomington as eclipse begins
Hands clasped and heads bowed, four monks begin to pray.
Shaved heads glisten with sweat under the afternoon sun. The chanting, a blend of Chinese and South Asian languages, drifts between arrhythmically monotone and vaguely musical.
“I go for refuge until I am enlightened,” they recite.
This puja, or act of worship, calls to the Medicine Buddha for inner strength and planetary healing. A smattering of the visitors gathered around the dome-shaped shrine known as a stupa do their best to follow the monks, tripping over the transliterated payer in low groans. But more and more, the people sitting on the prickly lawn abandon the booklets, reaching instead for cheap cardboard glasses.
The moon has just begun its eclipse, now barely a blemish on the bright orange egg yolk of the sun. When darkness falls on the monks, they will pause their prayer.
Until then, as visitors from around America crane their necks in mounting curiosity, their heads remain bowed.
— Bradley Hohulin
Watch the solar eclipse live
The eclipse has officially started here in Central Indiana. Watch it on IndyStar's livestream, embedded in this article or on our YouTube page.
Totality is expected to happen in Indianapolis from 3:06 to 3:09 p.m., and the eclipse is expected to end by 4:23 p.m.
More: Watch the total solar eclipse live here as it passes over the US
Visitors say 'we had to go' to IMS to watch the eclipse
Michael Um, Maxwell Yeo and Justin He came from Chicago and California to @IMS for the eclipse. The three are photographers and videographers who said they are hoping for some pretty cool shots. And couldn’t pass up the chance to get some new equipment and try new techniques. pic.twitter.com/F9IzVVduHA
— Sarah Bowman (@IndyStarSarah) April 8, 2024
Justin He, 25, and Maxwell Yeo, 29, said they were thinking about coming to the eclipse when they learned the next one on mainland U.S. wouldn’t be for another 20 years.
“So then we realized we had to go,” He said.
The two are videographers, and they were inspired by an eclipse picture they saw on Instagram to make the trip to Indianapolis to see if they could get some epic shots themselves.
They traveled down from Chicago with friend Michael Um, 27, who also is a photographer. They got help from YouTube for tips and tricks on how to best capture the eclipse. That included buying a filter for their camera lenses.
“We need sunglasses for our cameras, too, basically,” Um said.
— Sarah Bowman
Honestly, just a big day for Purdue
Purdue students drove to Indy to view the total solar eclipse!
Expectations for today? Malcolm McClymont (far right) said, “I’m just waiting for something supernatural to happen.”
And of course, getting back to West Lafayette is 2nd priority to catching the big game tonight. pic.twitter.com/iP4GyudL1W— Jade Thomas (@jadealexthomas) April 8, 2024
Indiana interstate traffic moving smoothly, officials say, but rest stops are filling up
#Eclipse2024
Rest parks along Indiana interstates in the path of totality are at or near capacity. @INDOT will be closing off the rest parks once they are full and will not allow any more traffic in for the duration of the eclipse— Sgt. John Perrine (@ISPIndianapolis) April 8, 2024
The state Department of Transportation announced one rest stop, along I-74 near Veedersburg, northwest of Indianapolis, is closed.
❗️❗️❗️ TRAFFIC ALERT: The I-74 Spring Creek rest area at Veedersburg is closed due to reaching maximum capacity from eclipse viewing traffic. pic.twitter.com/TN03dri4LS
— INDOT West Central (@INDOT_WCentral) April 8, 2024
Look for this cool detail as the partial eclipse starts
The telescopes outside Butler University have earned diva status today: Each has its own name, courtesy of the students.
Among them are Tiny Tim; Spud; Bill Nye the telescope guy; and Laika, named after the stray dog who was launched into space on a Soviet ship in 1957.
About eight of the small telescopes were placed around the Holcomb Observatory & Planetarium on Monday. Each has a 6- to 8-inch diameter mirror and is outfitted with a solar filter that blocks 99.999% of the sun’s light, making it safe to view, said Aarran Shaw, associate director of the observatory.
One exciting thing to watch for will be darker patches, called sun spots. “What that actually is, is a much cooler region of the sun," Shaw said.
The spots are 6,500 degrees Fahrenheit to the sun’s 10,000 degrees, Shaw said.
“As the moon starts to move across the surface of the sun, you might actually see some of those sun spots disappear as the moon covers them,” he said.
— Domenica Bongiovanni
Indianapolis Zoo eclipse watchers excited to see how animals react to eclipse
By lunchtime, the zoo was humming with crowds from all over the U.S.
The Indy Zoo’s gates have been busy, with more than 3,300 visitors passing through by just before 1 p.m.
Kathy, Autumn and Alyssa Rettke, along with Stephen Plekan, have been on a bit of a journey. They traveled from Green Bay to visit the Indiana Dunes, they then headed into Ohio’s Cuyahoga Valley National Park and made a stop in Columbus before ending up at the Indy Zoo for the eclipse.
“We were looking for places we could be outside, and we like zoos,” Kathy said.
Alex Kopytko is visiting Indy from San Diego, but first flew in to Chicago to meet up with his parents Therese and Ed.
The Kopytkos were walking through the kangaroo exhibit, where the marsupials roam free.
“We wanted to see how the animals react to the eclipse,” Therese said, but the group was still not sure where they’d end up during totality.
— Karl Schneider
Indianapolis weather: Clouds may arrive from southwest just in time for eclipse
The eclipse begins in just over an hour (totality isn't for another few hours, don't worry), and meteorologists at the National Weather Service in Indianapolis are keeping an eye on some clouds that are moving over Missouri that could move our way by the afternoon.
The incoming clouds are cirrus clouds, which are typically higher and appear as the more thin, wispy-looking clouds in the sky. The clouds are estimated to arrive in Central Indiana between 1 and 2 p.m.
Read more: Clouds have been spotted moving toward Indy before the eclipse. Will they block the view?
— Katie Wiseman
We are keying on a broad area of high cirrus moving NE over southern Missouri. This should get into central Indiana between 1-2PM. There is still some uncertainty on how thick this cirrus will be as it reaches Indiana. Stay tuned for updates! #INwx pic.twitter.com/DxMo1sRFWS
— NWS Indianapolis (@NWSIndianapolis) April 8, 2024
Extending spring break for an event 'they can't read about in textbooks'
Tory Patrick, 41, is hoping to give her four children a once-in-a-lifetime learning opportunity.
Patrick and her family are from Granger, Indiana, near South Bend, where they are expected to have 97% totality, but it’s not the same as total coverage, she said.
“So they will be getting the full experience that they can’t read about in textbooks,” Patrick said. Patrick and her sister Cally Gannon, 39 from Cincinnati, met in Indianapolis to view the eclipse from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. They camped outside IMS over the weekend ahead of the event. Sunday afternoon they saw a double rainbow over the speedway Pagoda.
Tory Patrick, 41, and her four kids extended their spring break by one day so they could come down to Indy for the eclipse.
They live in Granger, Ind. but she wanted them to have the full learning experience they won’t be able to read about in textbooks. pic.twitter.com/2kxQ4z2JRn— Sarah Bowman (@IndyStarSarah) April 8, 2024
Ryan Harper, 30, knows today is special.
He’s been planning for today’s solar eclipse since 2015. He bought glasses for his girlfriend, Madison Williams, and younger brother and father, Zachary and Jeff Harper, last year. He bought tickets for the IMS event with NASA and Purdue months ago.
“We’re right in totality,” he said. “This sometimes doesn’t happen in people’s lifetimes.”
The total solar eclipse is nothing new for Ben Smith, and his mother, Annette Smith, but it’s just as magical. They’re originally from Hopkinsville, Kentucky, and drove to Louisville in 2017, which was in the path of totality.
Ben Smith said his special interest is space and that today is a reminder that humans are “just a sentient speck in the middle of the universe.”
For him, it’s 100% totality, or bust. “That 1% we're going to get here today toward 100% makes a world of difference,” Annette Smith said. “It is the purest, clearest, whitest light.”
— Sarah Bowman and Jade Thomas
What to do with used eclipse glasses
You went through all the trouble of hunting them down, now you have to figure out what to do with them after the big day. Good news: you've got a few options.
Read more: The 2024 total solar eclipse is here. Donate, recycle, or keep your viewing glasses after.
Families flock to the Indianapolis Zoo to watch the eclipse
Parking lots were filling up at the Indianapolis Zoo at 10 a.m. as visitors flocked the entrance. Chimps travelled along their new highway – a series of walkways about 20 feet above the ground and snaking about a quarter mile between different buildings.
Crowds are trending above normal, a zoo staffer said, and about 1,000 passed through the gates by 10.
The macaws close to the parking lot were raucous and talkative and the gibbons further in the park were loudly singing.
Julia Romashko drove in from Fox Lake, near Chicago, last night with her children Sawyer and Wren. The family visited the Children’s Museum yesterday but decided to spend the day at the zoo to witness the eclipse.
Sawyer loves red pandas, and Romashko said he’s excited to see the one at the Indy Zoo.
The family plans of staying at the zoo through the eclipse and then will head back toward Chicago this evening.
Zookeepers are excited to see how the animals react during the eclipse. Will the primates vocalize and try to take a peek at the eclipse? Will the birds sing?
— Karl Schneider
Experiencing the total solar eclipse in the woods of Southern Indiana
The woods surrounding the Tibetan Mongolian Buddhist Cultural Center in Bloomington are quiet this morning, or at least much quieter than they will be in the summer. Hopefully the next eclipse visible from Indiana will come in May, Indiana Forest Alliance executive director Jeff Stant said.
Stant, now in his 12th year as director, wonders whether the sudden disruption of the light-dark cycle will make the forest animals behave as if it were nighttime. Listen for the wagon-wheel squeak of the warblers or the distant croak of the spring peepers, he said. The warblers have flown north from Central America, putting them squarely among the most ambitious eclipse travelers.
While humans tend to try to shape nature, Stant pointed out that we are merely a dash in a massive melting pot of biodiversity. He hopes the visitors at the Cultural Center can appreciate the eclipse as a rare phenomenon over which they have no control. “It reminds us we’re part of something much bigger than us,” he said.
— Bradley Hohulin
A Buddhist puja ceremony and more: Explore Yellowwood State Forest during the solar eclipse
Indianapolis Motor Speedway's Doug Boles is everywhere
IMS President Doug Boles, who is rarely, if ever, seen in public wearing anything other than a suit and tie (I've always thought that was a CHOICE on blisteringly hot race days, but he is committed), is apparently handing out stickers featuring his signature look, complete with lapel pins of the state of Indiana and the iconic wing and wheel logo. An objectively hilarious bit.
I didn't have Doug Boles merch on my eclipse day bingo card, but the man is an Indy icon, so why not?
Indianapolis motor Speedway president Doug Boles is handing out suit jacket stickers out here at IMS. How fitting! He also pulled up in this car. pic.twitter.com/EpN6xThOo7
— Mykal McEldowney (@mykalmphoto) April 8, 2024
And just look at how excited he is to celebrate with this couple, who got engaged at IMS today:
An engagement @IMS! Let’s go! pic.twitter.com/pSQaQdy4Ty
— J. Douglas Boles (@jdouglas4) April 8, 2024
— Holly Hays
Today's New York Times crossword clues
If you haven't made your playlist for the eclipse yet, today's New York Times crossword can help you. Some of the questions reference songs that fit the eclipse theme, with artists including Bonnie Tyler, Cat Stevens, Santana and U2.
More: The New York Times April 8 crossword helps readers create a solar eclipse playlist
Indianapolis Motor Speedway eclipse event is drawing a crowd
Not only is vehicle traffic a little hectic on 16th Street outside Indianapolis Motor Speedway, so is foot traffic. Gates opened to the public a little less than an hour ago and there's already quite the line to get in:
Long line of folks waiting outside the @IMS for today’s eclipse event! (And I didn’t even show till the end of it)
Here we go! pic.twitter.com/G5pPelXztP— Sarah Bowman (@IndyStarSarah) April 8, 2024
Also (and this is for the fellow weather nerds out there and probably no one else): JIM CANTORE! We should've known he'd show up — if it's not severe weather he's chasing, it's bizarre weather phenomena. I guess a total solar eclipse counts.
#IndyEclipse24 is underway ☀️⁰⁰Reporting live from #IMS with @JimCantore. pic.twitter.com/U6WqWoq7LV
— Indianapolis Motor Speedway (@IMS) April 8, 2024
— Holly Hays
Live eclipse coverage from Indiana
The path of totality stretches across Indiana, basically like if you were drawing a diagonal line across the state with a chisel-tip Sharpie from Evansville to the Muncie area. Luckily, our colleagues at USA TODAY Network papers in Evansville and Bloomington are also covering eclipse events as they unfold.
If you want to get a glimpse of what's happening in other eclipse destination cities in Indiana, hop over to their sites and take a scroll!
From our colleagues in Bloomington: Live coverage of the 2024 total solar eclipse
From our colleagues in Evansville: It's solar eclipse day in the Tri-State. Check here for updates throughout the day.
Indianapolis eclipse day morning commute sees light traffic
Those of us who woke up worried about a busy Monday morning commute were largely greeted by light traffic into downtown Indianapolis. With most schools out for the day and local and state emergency responders encouraging people to work from home there's a lot of green on the 511in.org traffic map. The busiest spot around 8:30 a.m. is, unsurprisingly, 16th Street outside of Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the site of the largest anticipated eclipse gathering in the city.
More: Check out Indiana's traffic conditions the morning before the total solar eclipse
Solar eclipse livestream
NASA will be livestreaming the eclipse from its event at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The USA TODAY Network will also be livestreaming the eclipse from multiple locations, including Washington D.C., Texas, Oklahoma, Indiana and New York. Watch it here:
Not here? NASA is livestreaming. Here's how you can watch
What time is the eclipse in Indianapolis?
In Indy, the eclipse begins at 1:50 p.m. and ends at 4:23 p.m. Totality is expected to last 3 minutes and 49 seconds, beginning at 3:06 p.m.
Looking for other cities? Find out times, durations of total solar eclipse across Indiana
Where to watch the eclipse in Indianapolis
Eclipse watch parties: Ticketed events in Central Indiana where you can see the solar eclipse
Eclipse celebrations: Free events in Central Indiana that offer views of the eclipse
A procrastinator's guide: Everything you need to know before April 8's solar eclipse
Indianapolis weather today
All signs are pointing to near-perfect weather for eclipse viewing — as long as the clouds hold off. The National Weather Service is forecasting mostly sunny, sometimes windy conditions with a high in the low- to mid-70s.
You can expect temperatures to drop about 5 degrees during totality, according to the NWS.
We expect warm and somewhat breezy conditions across central Indiana today, with scattered high cirrus present during the eclipse time frame this afternoon. #INwx pic.twitter.com/jSs9OIKzNW
— NWS Indianapolis (@NWSIndianapolis) April 8, 2024
Other things to know about the eclipse
It's electric! The 2024 total solar eclipse is here. Will it impact solar power generation?
No solar eclipse glasses? No problem. How to make a DIY solar viewer out of a cereal box
Please don't look at the sun: What happens if you look directly at a solar eclipse? The answer depends on when you look
Eclipse fashion: Here's which colors to wear — and avoid — during the solar eclipse
What is 'eclipse sickness?' How to manage stress, anxiety during the solar eclipse
How will your pets react? Eclipse could cause discomfort for dogs, cats, even horses. How to help them stay calm
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Total solar eclipse live updates from Indianapolis