Southern Illinois: eclipse crossroads of America

Carbondale, Illinois is beating the odds. It’s said that, on average, a total solar eclipse can be seen from the same spot on Earth only once every 375 years. Carbondale will be getting two total solar eclipses in the next eight years, as the paths of the August 2017 and April 2024 events cross in southern Illinois. There’s little wonder that the area is billing itself as the “Eclipse Crossroads of America.”

“It’s a wonderful outreach opportunity,” said Bob Baer in something of an understatement. Baer heads up public astronomy programs at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale and is co-chair of its Solar Eclipse Steering Committee, which has been planning for the 2017 eclipse for almost two years already. Complicating their planning somewhat is the fact that the day of the 2017 eclipse, August 21, is also the first day of classes for fall semester at the university. (We hope all of the students will cut their 1 p.m. classes to see the eclipse!) They’ll have students moving in, parents still around, and as many as 50,000 extra eclipse chasers in the area.

“We’re planning on having events through the weekend and on Monday,” the day of the eclipse, Baer said, noting they’re shooting for edu-tainment—some science as well as entertainment. SIU athletic facilities will be key. They can accommodate a lot of people, and the university can link the big screens in their football stadium and basketball arena together. Baer said they’re working with NASA and their local PBS station, WSIU, to offer eclipse programming that day and to show coverage from other places along the eclipse path.

The local astronomy club, the Astronomical Association of Southern Illinois, is a relatively modest operation with only about 30 members, but president Harry Treece said they’ll be doing their part.

“We are going to be manning one of the stations at a state park near here called Giant City, hosting an area there for different astronomy clubs and people like that who can come in,” he said. Treece said he’s glad that the university is also reserving some space that won’t be so public for more serious astronomical observers.

“It will be a place for like-minded people who can set up their equipment, and there won’t be general public, lots of people, little kids running around knocking scopes over, and things like that,” he said.

Baer and Treece say there’s a lot to consider.

“Most of Southern Illinois is going to see the eclipse, so we’ve been holding workshops for about the last year,” Baer said. “These have been aimed toward communities, businesses, emergency personnel, and the cities to give them basic information on the eclipse and help them get started on planning.”
Treece added that they’ve urged cellular telephone companies to bring in temporary towers to handle the anticipated surge in traffic. The SIU athletics department is securing generators to make sure they have enough power to support larger crowds. Planners have gone as far as Chicago in search of enough porta-potties.

Accommodations and weather

Can the area handle so many visitors? Baer thinks so. He notes that there are about 3,000 hotel rooms within an hour or so of Carbondale, and most hotels in the area don’t take reservations for more than a year out. They’ll probably be snapped up in a hurry starting August 21 of this year. In addition, there are some 300,000 acres of public land in the region with plenty of camping in state parks and national forests.

As for the weather, it’s typically very hot and humid in August in Carbondale. It’s one of the reasons they’re making indoor venues available, so people can duck out of the heat. Baer said they often have morning clouds that clear by afternoon, and that it’s rare to have complete overcast. So they’re hopeful for good eclipse viewing in town.

Why Carbondale?

“Carbondale is going to be having a big, carnival-like atmosphere for the whole thing,” Treece said. “It’s a beautiful part of the country, there’s a lot to do a couple of days before or after.”

“We have a large number of wineries in southern Illinois,” as well as craft breweries, Baer said. “The center line of totality goes right through our two wine trails. It’s a great opportunity for a lot of local businesses and their venues to host things during the eclipse and leading up to it.”

“If people want to come to the area ahead of time, there’s plenty to do,” Baer added, noting that it’s easy to get around, so people can come early and explore before deciding where to go to watch the eclipse. He described an area along Route 3 headed to St. Louis, which is about 80 miles northwest of Carbondale as the crow flies.

“There are these beautiful limestone bluffs that overlook the Mississippi River,” Baer said. “Those areas down there, the bottom grounds and those bluffs, are excellent places to get and be in a flat area where you can see that 360-degree sunset effect that you get during an eclipse.” He said you might find an elevated spot from which you could see the Moon’s shadow sweeping across the Earth as it approaches from the west.

Eclipse science

Bob Baer. SIU photo.

With all of this going on, Baer is going to be doing some real science during the eclipse, too. He’s part of Citizen CATE (Citizen Continental America Telescopic Eclipse Experiment), a project that hopes to observe and shoot video of the corona of the Sun from 60 locations across the country during the eclipse.

“We’re looking at the evolution of the corona,” he said. “We can image the corona directly, and we can start to learn about how the magnetic fields of the Sun affect that solar corona.”

“We’re hoping to make a 90-minute movie from that so we can see the corona as it evolves,” he added.

Baer went to Indonesia for the total solar eclipse there in March, something of a trial run for Citizen CATE. It was his first total solar eclipse.

“It’s a bit of a life-changing experience,” he said, even though they knew what to expect. “Until you’ve experienced it, it really doesn’t sink in.”

We expect that millions of people will experience it for the first time in August 2017.