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| Paper: |
Joliet Junior College’s Public Viewing Events for the Solar Eclipses of October 14, 2023 and April 8, 2024 |
| Volume: |
539, ASP 2024: Astronomy Across the Spectrum |
| Page: |
101 |
| Authors: |
Dcruz, N. |
| Abstract: |
To engage as many people as possible with the solar eclipses of October 14, 2023, and April 8, 2024, Joliet Junior College, a community college in Joliet, Illinois, held free public viewing events for both. These eclipses were partial from Joliet, though the former was annular and the latter was total from elsewhere. Unfortunately, inclement weather prevented us from viewing the October 14, 2023, eclipse, otherwise we would have seen the Sun's disk 44.3% occluded by the Moon at maximum eclipse. About eighty people still came to the event. They each received a free custom eclipse viewer. They were offered NASA's live stream of the annular solar eclipse and a short planetarium show. The April 8, 2024, viewing event was a huge success. Around thirteen hundred people attended the college's free event. Each of these attendees was given a free custom eclipse viewer. From Joliet, the Moon covered 94.2% of the Sun's disk at maximum eclipse. Thanks to clear skies, the air temperature dropped for about 25-30 minutes before and after the maximum eclipse, and the sky darkened for about 12-15 minutes on either side of the maximum eclipse. Venus was spotted for about three minutes after the maximum eclipse. In this article, I briefly describe both events and offer tips for hosting successful solar eclipse viewing that I hope will be beneficial to those planning similar events in the future. |
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