Are you ready?! It’s time to gear up for the upcoming TOTAL Solar Eclipse happening on Monday. Come to WonderLab this weekend to prepare! Check out eclipse toys and scientific tools in the WonderGarden and in the museum. Learn how to safely view the sun during an eclipse. Purchase Solar Viewer Glasses. Make your own pinhole viewer and more!
On Monday, April 8, 2024 at approximately 3:04 pm EST WonderLab and the city of Bloomington will experience a Total Solar Eclipse – literally in our own backyard! The last total solar eclipse to touch the soil of Indiana, and Bloomington specifically, was August 7, 1869 – more than 150 years ago. There will not be another total solar eclipse in the United States until 2044.
Although a total solar eclipse in a single location is rare, a solar eclipse is not. There are at least two solar eclipses somewhere on Earth every year. However, in order to be a total eclipse the event must happen during a new moon. A total eclipse only happens every year or two. Back in October 2023 the event that kicked off our Eclipse Celebration was both a partial solar eclipse and an annular solar eclipse. It was partial because only a little more than 40% of the sun was blocked and annular because the moon was at its farthest point from the earth making its perspective to be smaller than the sun.
Join us to celebrate the Wonder of this natural astronomical phenomena!
Solar Eclipse Preview Day is part of the WonderLab Eclipse Celebration series that began with a partial annular eclipse in Oct. 2023 and ends with the Total Solar Eclipse on Monday, April 8th.
Recommended Ages: All Ages
Dates and Times:
- Saturday, April 6, 2024
- 10am – 4pm
Price: Activities free with Museum Admission
This work is supported by the Simons Foundation and is a part of its ‘In the Path of Totality’ initiative.
Presented in Partnership: Part of the Solar Eclipse Series presented by the Buskirk-Chumley Theater, WonderLab and Science on the Screen.The Science on Screen® initiative brings science to cinemas nationwide and is an initiative of the Coolidge Corner Theatre, with major support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. This series puts together creative pairings of current, classic, cult, and documentary films with lively introductions by notable figures from the world of science, technology, and medicine.