PEORIA, Ill. – Monday’s total solar eclipse is an event so rare, you won’t have another opportunity to see one in the U.S. again until 2045.
Whether you’re watching it in the “Zone of Totality” or here in central Illinois, the show in the sky will begin around lunchtime.
“It starts around 12:47 (p.m.), so if you want, that would be the first opportunity to see the moon, as we like to say, take a bite out of the sun…so start to cover up the sun. Then, it’s at its maximum right around 2 o’clock in the afternoon,” the Peoria Riverfront Museum’s Renae Kerrigan says.
Kerrigan tells WMBD’s Greg and Dan, central Illinois will experience a 94-percent eclipse. The total eclipse will be viewable in Carbondale and other places in southern Illinois, parts of Missouri, Indiana and Ohio.
“If you’re in the right spot on the earth, you can see the moon fully block out the light of the sun for about four minutes in the middle of the day. And, the reason this is able to happen is because even though the moon is 400 times smaller than our sun, it’s also 400 times closer to the earth, so they are the exact same size as they appear in our sky,” Kerrigan says.
Peoria Riverfront Museum is hosting an Eclipse Viewing Party Monday from 12:30-2:30 p.m. on their Sun Plaza. The event is free and open to the public.
You will need to wear special eclipse shades to view the eclipse. Certified safe shades are available at Peoria Riverfront Museum’s store while supplies last.
To find out more, click HERE.
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