Oak Park Public Library and the Park District of Oak Park are hosting a solar eclipse viewing party from noon to 3 p.m. April 8 at Scoville Park.
The solar eclipse will cross North America, including parts of Mexico, the United States and Canada, according to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Illinois is included in the path of the eclipse.
The last total solar eclipse visible in the U.S. was on Aug. 21, 2017. NASA estimates 215 million U.S. adults viewed that eclipse. The path of totality, however, where the moon completely blocks the sun, will be wider in the 2024 eclipse than it was in 2017. But viewers don’t need to live in the path of totality to see at least a partial eclipse.
The April eclipse totality will last up to four minutes and 28 seconds, according to NASA. In 2017, the longest the sun was totally eclipsed was two minutes and 42 seconds.
Chicago is not in the eclipse’s path of totality, meaning only a partial eclipse will be visible here. The total eclipse will be better viewed in southern Illinois and central Indiana.
Registration for the Scoville Park viewing party, which is free to attend, is not required, but is available online. There will be a limited number of viewing glasses available, according to the PDOP, but attendees will be shown how to make a pinhole viewer to experience the eclipse safely.
According to NASA, it is not safe to look directly at the sun without eye protection and could cause injury, except during a brief total phase of a total solar eclipse. Eclipse glasses are not the same as regular sunglasses. Safe solar viewers are thousands of times darker, according to NASA.
“Do NOT look at the Sun through a camera lens, telescope, binoculars, or any other optical device while wearing eclipse glasses or using a handheld solar viewer — the concentrated solar rays will burn through the filter and cause serious eye injury,” NASA states.
NASA also recommends wearing sunscreen and other protective clothing if a viewer is going to be outside watching the entire eclipse.
Scoville Park is located at 800 Lake St. in Oak Park.