The city of South Bend and St. Joseph County health officials have announced they’ll be handing out free safety glasses for next week’s solar eclipse.
On Monday April 8, a week from today, the eclipse will cause total darkness for four minutes in a 115-mile band of totality running from Texas to New England. The band comes through Indiana, southeast of the Michiana area.
While South Bend will technically see only a partial eclipse, with 97% of the sun covered, the view will still be better than other places around the nation. But looking at the sun with the naked eye during that time can permanently damage the retina.
The city and county health department have made free viewing glasses available first-come, first-served at nine locations, including the health department, the police department, and Howard Park Event Center.
Henry Scott is a professor in the Physics and Astronomy department at Indiana University South Bend.
"I really try to encourage people, if they can, since we're so close, to travel to be in totality," Scott said. "But of course not everyone can. But if you can't, it's still going to be pretty cool."
The last time there was a partial solar eclipse visible in South Bend, in 2017, Scott says only 88% of the sun was eclipsed, and he still thought it was spectacular.
But if you do want to travel for it, Huntington, 84 miles southeast, is the closest city in the band to South Bend. I give you that distance in miles instead of minutes because traffic could become very congested. Hundreds of thousands of tourists are expected to converge on Indiana for the event.
Scott’s going all the way to Erie, Pennsylvania, which happens to fall within the totality band, to watch with relatives who live there.
The eclipse will peak at 3:09 p.m. in the South Bend area.
Here's where the free glasses are available:
- St. Joseph County Department of Health, 227 W Jefferson Blvd., 8th floor (County-City Building)
- South Bend Police Department, 701 W Sample St.
- Howard Park Event Center, 219 S. Saint Louis Blvd.
- Pinhook Park, 2801 Riverside Dr.
- Rum Village Park, 2626 S Gertrude St.
- Charles Black Community Center, 3419 W Washington St.
- Elbel Golf Course, 26595 Auten Rd.
- Erskine Golf Course, 4200 Miami St.
- Studebaker Golf Course, 718 E Calvert St.
