Join us outside for a Total Solar Eclipse Street Party. We will be preparing and practicing with our solar viewing tools starting at 2pm. The eclipse begins at 3:04pm. We will wrap up at 4pm. This event takes place outside, in front of WonderLab and in the WonderGarden. WonderLab will be closed.

Times: 2 – 4pm

Location: 4th street in front of WonderLab and in the WonderGarden. WonderLab galleries, gift store and exhibits will be closed. 

Recommended Ages: All ages

Price: FREE for all!

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 in Oct. 2023 and ends with the Total Solar Eclipse on Monday, April 8th.

This work is supported by the Simons Foundation and is a part of its ‘In the Path of Totality’ initiative.