Eclipse

Make Independence your headquarters for the 2017 solar eclipse weekend!

Independence sits inside the line of totality for the next solar eclipse on Monday, August 21, 2017. The entire event will last approximately 3 hours with the most dramatic views lasting for 90 minutes with total darkness (similar to a night with a full moon) lasting for 1 minute and 10 seconds.

• Start Time: 11:41 a.m.
• Totality Duration: 1m 10s from 1:08:37 p.m. to 1:09:47 p.m.
• Event End Time: 2:36:20 p.m.

Purchase your viewing glasses at the Visitor Experience Center inside the historic Truman Courthouse on the Square.

SPECIAL EVENTS: 

ECLIPSE FACTS:

• This is the first Total Solar Eclipse on the continental USA since 1979; and the first one to cross the continent from ocean to ocean since 1918. There was one that was visible from Hawaii and Mexico in 1991. Mexico closed the border with the US to anyone without hotel reservations because they could not handle the volume of people. It is the first total solar eclipse to be visible from ONLY the US since before 1776. For Missouri this is the first total solar eclipse since 1869, and for some parts (e.g. St Louis, St Gen, Perryville etc.) it is the first since 1442.
• There is a total solar eclipse approximately once a year somewhere on the planet, but the zones of visibility are often over water or over countries which are considered unsafe for travel by westerners.
• The path of totality runs from the pacific coast of Oregon to the atlantic coast of South Carolina. There are 12 million people live on the path of totality; 88 million live within 200 miles! The entire population of the USA is no more than a long day’s drive from the path.
• With respect to viewing the sun: during the partial phase, as the moon transits across the face of the sun, the sun is too bright to view without protection. Do not look directly at the sun without eye protection. During the total phase of the eclipse, it is safe to watch without any special equipment. The sky is approximately as dark as a full moon night and we will see the outer atmosphere of the sun, the corona, that is usually invisible to us.