By John Dempsey, WLS-AM News

(CHICAGO)  For the first time in over 90 years, there will be a total solar eclipse in North America this coming Monday August 21st, and the Adler Planetarium is pulling out all the stops.

Adler astronomer Dr. Grace Wolf-Chase tells WLS News that the planetarium is sponsoring what it calls “Chicago’s Eclipse Fest”.

“We’re having a great block party at the Adler Planetarium to celebrate that, and there will be free eclipse glasses and free admission to the Adler that day for folks who want to come over.   We’ll also have some people in Daley Plaza with special eclipse glasses.”

There will be several educational activities and presentations about what people will be witnessing in the sky.   The planetarium says throughout the day,  guests will also experience live entertainment, hands-on science for all ages, outdoor obstacle courses and activities, and programming from partners across the city.

Dr. Wolf-Chase says this event is a rarity, when the moon will be covering the sun.   There is a path going from America’s pacific northwest to the southeast, in which the sun will be totally covered. The only location where that will happen in Illinois is in Carbondale in Southern Illinois.

But says Chicago will still see 87 percent of the sun covered, which means people will need special eyewear or some sort of projection device.

“You won’t get the stars coming out, you won’t get to see the sun’s outer atmosphere and some of the particularly beautiful aspects of a total solar eclipse but it is still a very rare event and certainly it’s one to be seen and one to be experienced”, said Dr. Wolf-Chase, “Please protect your eyes.   On our website, www.adlerplanetarium.org , we have a web page called “Equipped to Eclipse”, and there’s a lot of information about both the protective eyewear you can use, as well as the devices you might have at home that you might use to project images of the sun during the solar eclipse.”

The total solar eclipse will be visible in parts of the United States for the first time since 1979.  In Chicago, at 11:54 am. CST, the Moon will start to block our view of the Sun, covering up to 87 percent of it by 1:19 pm.

The Adler also says guests will also be treated to a live-feed of the total solar eclipse from locations that are in the path of totality in the Adler’s immersive Grainger Sky and Definiti Space theaters. Regular sky shows will be available at a reduced price of only $5 with a special eclipse show available for $2.

@ 2017 WLS-AM News