Maximum eclipse occurs at 1:02pm with 34 percent of the sun’s disk covered by the moon. Planetarium staff and Delta Astronomy Club volunteers will provide guests with specially filtered telescopes for a safe view. Certified safe eclipse viewers will be available in the planetarium gift shop.

Also known as a “Ring of Fire” eclipse, the moon is too far away in its orbit at that time to completely cover the sun, so a small ring of sunlight surrounds the disk of the new moon. The path of annularity crosses the southwest United States from Oregon to Texas, creating a partial solar eclipse for much of the country, including Michigan.

On April 8, 2024, the next total solar eclipse to cross the United States comes close to Michigan. Millions of people are already making travel plans to reach the total eclipse path and the planetarium plays its feature show “Eclipse: The Sun Revealed” every Saturday at 3:30pm to help the public prepare.

This fulldome production features exciting visuals that explore the cultural views of eclipses, the geometry that gives us different kinds of eclipses, scientific discoveries generated by total solar eclipses, recreations of what can be seen from within the shadow of a total solar eclipse, and personal accounts of the experience.  

“A live epilogue at the end of each show will provide recommendations for viewing the eclipse. Only a partial eclipse will be visible from Michigan, which is nothing spectacular because everyone in the United States will get that,” said Mike Murray, astronomer and planetarium manager. “The key is getting into the shadow of totality, where the moon covers the entire disk of the sun. That path will get as close as Indiana and Ohio, so we’ll show you how to make travel plans now.”

The partial solar eclipse observing event is free and open to the public. Planetarium show tickets are available online at tickets.delta.edu/mainstore or onsite.

The Delta College Planetarium is located at 100 Center Avenue in downtown Bay City. For more information, go to www.delta.edu/planetarium or call 989-667-2260.