Solar eclipse-focused events lead up to watch party on April 8
Plan on rocking some eclipse glasses on the afternoon of April 8 (Monday) as Notre Dame and the surrounding community experience an almost total solar eclipse.
The College of Science at the University of Notre Dame has public lectures and eclipse-themed planetarium shows planned both on and off campus in the weeks and days leading up to the eclipse. An eclipse watch party is scheduled on April 8. Each event is free and open to the public.
“We’re excited to bring everyone together to learn about eclipses, and then enjoy the event together,” said Keith Davis, director of the Digital Visualization Theater at Notre Dame. “The next total solar eclipses in North America won’t happen until 2044 and 2045, so this will be a rare opportunity for many of us.”
More details about each event can be found on the College of Science website for the following:
-
Planetarium show, “Get Ready for the April 8 Solar Eclipse!” 6:30 p.m. Tuesday (Feb. 13) in the Digital Visualization Theater, Room 100, Jordan Hall of Science.
-
Discussion of historical solar eclipses at 6:30 p.m. March 19 (Tuesday), Room 105, Jordan Hall of Science.
-
Lecture, “What if the Sun Doesn’t Come Back?” Talk begins at 6:30 p.m. March 27 (Wednesday) at the St. Joseph County Public Library Main Branch Auditorium, 304 S. Main St., South Bend.
-
Lecture, “Eclipses in Outer Space: How Astrophysicists Use Eclipses of other Stars to Find New Planets.” Talk begins at 6:30 p.m. April 2 (Tuesday) at the St. Joseph Public Library Main Branch Auditorium.
-
Planetarium show, “Into the Shadow.” 6 and 7:30 p.m. April 4 (Thursday) and 7 p.m. April 5 (Friday), Room 100, Jordan Hall of Science.
-
Eclipse watch party on the Irish Green from 1 to 4:30 p.m. April 8. The entire eclipse event in South Bend will begin at 1:53 p.m., reach 97 percent totality at 3:09 p.m. and end at 4:08 p.m.
At each event, attendees will have the opportunity to pick up some eclipse glasses, which are crucial for viewing the eclipse. Davis emphasized that people should never look at the sun directly, not even during a partial eclipse event, or they can permanently damage their eyesight.
During a total solar eclipse, the moon passes directly between the Earth and the sun, casting the darkest parts of its shadow on regions of the Earth. This completely blocks the face of the sun from those regions. Although the moon is between the sun and Earth during every new moon, it’s usually not perfectly aligned, so its shadow doesn’t usually land on the Earth.
During this year’s eclipse, the moon will block the sun in certain areas from Mexico to Maine, and the sky will darken as if it were dawn or dusk. Indiana will experience totality, or 100 percent blockage of the sun, in an approximately 115-mile-wide stretch diagonally from Evansville to just south of Fort Wayne.
Originally published by science.nd.edu on Feb. 1.
atLatest Colleges & Schools
- Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz addresses inequality with a people-centered economyInequality is a policy choice — not an inevitable outcome — and can be addressed through economic approaches that prioritize human dignity, economist and Nobel laureate Joseph E. Stiglitz said during a recent visit to the University of Notre Dame’s Keough School of Global Affairs.
- European Commissioner Mairead McGuinness to deliver 2024 Barrett Family LectureNotre Dame’s Nanovic Institute for European Studies will welcome European Commissioner Mairead McGuinness to deliver the fourth Barrett Family Lecture on Friday (April 26) at Iveagh House in Dublin. Her lecture, titled “Ireland, the EU and the USA: Navigating the Future Together,” will begin at noon local time.
- Notre Dame researcher explores how technology can defend democracyGrowing public disenchantment with social media often highlights how it has poisoned political discourse. Critics say its business model leverages negative emotions to maximize user engagement, fueling mistrust and polarization. Keough School of Global Affairs scholar Lisa Schirch sees opportunity in a new class of deliberative technologies and their implications for democracy.
- Keough School establishes two new doctoral programsNotre Dame’s Keough School of Global Affairs has established two new doctoral programs in sustainable development and peace studies. The peace studies and sustainable development programs will enable doctoral students in the Keough School to examine from different perspectives the intersection of poverty, the environment, violent conflict and peace. Both programs will enroll students beginning in fall 2025.
- Essays on democracy draw attention to critical threats, explore safeguards ahead of Jan. 6Shortly after Jan. 6, 2021, when a mob stormed the U.S. Capitol building, Notre Dame’s Rooney Center for the Study of American Democracy established the January 6th, 2025, Project, which includes 10 Notre Dame faculty who are preeminent scholars of democracy. In an effort to understand the social, political, psychological and demographic factors that led to that troublesome day, the group created a collection of 14 essays aimed at drawing attention to the vulnerabilities in our democratic system and the threats building against it, hoping to create consensus on ways to remedy both problems.
- Graduate students to present research, compete for prize money in annual Three Minute Thesis competitionNine University of Notre Dame graduate students will compete for $4,500 in prize money during the annual Shaheen Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition. The competition will take place from 5 to 7 p.m. Wednesday (Feb. 28) inside Jordan Auditorium at the Mendoza College of Business on campus. It is open to the public.