IC hosting event for anticipated solar eclipse

By Gary Scott on August 19, 2017 at 12:06pm

You can experience something truly incredible on Monday as parts of west central Illinois will experience the first total eclipse of the sun since 1979.

The American Astronomical Society says the Jacksonville area will witness 97 percent of the path of totality around 1:20 p.m. on Monday.

Dr. Pratheesh Jakkala, assistant professor of physics at Illinois College, says IC is holding an eclipse party from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m.

“I will be explaining the science behind the eclipse for about five or six minutes. We don’t want to bore people with too much science.” He says how to safely watch the eclipse will also be discussed.

Jakkala says Illinois is very lucky.

“On August 21, 2017, you will see the totality. Again, the next eclipse is in 2024 in the United States, and you will see that in Illinois again. This does not happen for hundreds of years in the same geographical location. In 2024 the path is from Texas to Maine and that path crosses this path, and for any geographical location to have totality, it will take centuries.”

Jakkala says the eclipse might confuse animals for a brief time as the eclipse creates darkness for a two or three minute period.