Celestial tourism is set to peak on Monday, as people travel to one of the 15 states parts of which will experience a total solar eclipse. The path of totality runs well east of Iowa, but a partial eclipse will still be viewable on Monday.
In Iowa the partial eclipse will begin around 12:45 p.m. on Monday, and last approximately two and a half hours. Peak coverage will occur around 2 p.m. The further east you are, the greater the maximum coverage of the sun will be. According to NASA’s online eclipse explorer, Iowa City will experience 88 percent coverage at its peak, Cedar Rapids will see 87 percent coverage, while further westward in Des Moines, coverage will max out at 84 percent.
If you’re unimpressed by that level of eclipse, unwilling to travel to the path of totality and want to view a total eclipse in Iowa, you’re going to have a long wait. The next time parts of Iowa will experience a total solar eclipse will be June 16, 2178.
There are three numbers to remember for Monday.
The first is 400. The sun’s diameter is 400 times larger than the moon’s, but the sun is also 400 times further away from the Earth than the moon is. That’s what allows the moon to block to the sun when the alignment is right.
The second is 20. Iowa last experienced a similar partial solar eclipse in 2017, and that year the path of totality actually grazed Iowa, but just barely. In Iowa, the total eclipse was visible only from one farm at the southeastern edge of the state. But just because Iowa had an impressive eclipse seven years ago, doesn’t mean there will be another one in a few years. The next chance to see a solar eclipse of Monday’s magnitude in Iowa won’t happen for another 20 years. So, you may want to make the most of Monday’s eclipse.
And that brings us to the third, and most important, number: 50.
Staring at an eclipse without the proper solar filter can cause severe eye damage. Sunglasses won’t help, because most of them only block about 50 percent of the sun’s light. Special eclipse glasses with the right solar filters block out all but 1/100,000th of the sun’s light.
If you don’t have access to eclipse glasses, there’s always the indirect approach. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory has easy step-by-step instructions on how to make a pinhole camera that will project an image of the eclipse using just a pair of scissors, two pieces of white card stock, some aluminum foil and tape, and a pin or a paper clip.
There will also be viewing parties at astronomical locations around Iowa, complete with free eclipse glasses (while supplies last), telescopes with solar filter and experts on hand to answer questions.
In Iowa City, the University of Iowa will have viewing events on the Pentacrest and in the Sciences Library courtyard, from 12:30 – 3 p.m.
The Cedar Amateur Astronomers will host an eclipse viewing event at the Eastern Iowa Observatory and Learning Center in Linn County, between Ely and Mount Pleasant (1365 Ivanhoe Rd). The doors open at 12:30 p.m.
The Science Center of Iowa is hosting a viewing event at the Drake Observatory (4898 Observatory Rd in the Waveland Golf Course), starting at noon. In addition to watching the moon, attendees should take a few moments to look around the remarkable old structure. In 2022, Little Village profiled the century-old observatory, its uncertain future and its haunted history.
