Nearly 2,000 people gathered at Triton College in west suburban River Grove to view the solar eclipse Monday afternoon.
The school’s Cernan Earth and Space Center put together a solar eclipse event that offered visitors discounted admission to the planetarium and some free activities, like UV bracelets and safe solar observing.
“Triton is a unique place because we have such a wide-open space right here on the west side of the Chicagoland area, and there’s plenty of room for people to come and set up,” said Wayne Foster, a planetarium educator with the Cernan Earth and Space Center.
“You’re not going to be super crowded like you would downtown,” he said.
Triton College also held a 2017 solar eclipse event.
“So 2017 was a little bit less coverage of the sun than we have today in 2024,” said Foster. “2017, I believe, was somewhere around 80% coverage in Chicagoland. Today we’re going to be about 93%, so we’ll see a lot more of the sun covered.”
While the Chicago area experienced a partial eclipse, millions of Americans got a view of a total eclipse as the path of totality swept across a portion of the country.
Read More:
- Hundreds Come Out to View Solar Eclipse at Adler Planetarium
- A Total Solar Eclipse Races Across North America as Clouds Part Along Totality
- NOVA: Great American Eclipse
