{"id":763265,"date":"2026-07-14T23:19:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T23:19:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/763265\/"},"modified":"2026-07-14T23:19:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T23:19:11","slug":"will-august-total-solar-eclipse-be-visible-from-chicago-area-nbc-chicago","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/763265\/","title":{"rendered":"Will August total solar eclipse be visible from Chicago area? \u2013 NBC Chicago"},"content":{"rendered":"

Solar eclipses are always an incredible spectacle to those lucky enough to be in their path, but will Chicago-area residents be able to partake in the looming celestial show? <\/p>\n

The next total solar eclipse that will be visible from Earth is set to take place on August 12, and it will be visible across parts of Europe and North America according to NASA scientists. <\/p>\n

For Chicago-area residents however, the news isn\u2019t the best in terms of the proximity the Windy City will have to that eclipse. <\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what you need to know. <\/p>\n

What is a total solar eclipse? <\/p>\n

Most people have either seen a total solar eclipse or have seen pictures of one. During a total eclipse, the new moon slips in front of the sun, and those in the center of the moon\u2019s shadow on Earth see a total solar eclipse. <\/p>\n

During the brief period of totality, stargazers can look at the eclipse without any protection, taking in the incredible sight of the sun\u2019s light obscured by the moon in the sky. <\/p>\n

Once that period of totality is over however, eye protection is very much needed, according to NASA experts. <\/p>\n

Where will next month\u2019s solar eclipse be visible? <\/p>\n

According to NASA, the path of totality<\/a> for the eclipse will be focused on parts of the Arctic, along with countries like Greenland and Iceland as well as parts of Russia and Spain.<\/p>\n

While the total eclipse will not be visible in the United States, a partial eclipse will occur in parts of the country, including in Alaska and in the northeast. <\/p>\n

What about the Chicago area? <\/p>\n

Unfortunately for residents, the partial eclipse path will come extremely close to the Chicago area but ultimately won\u2019t yield much in the way of coverage of the sun, with perhaps less than 1% of the sun\u2019s surface likely covered by the moon even when at totality.<\/p>\n

Other parts of the Midwest will see similar shows, with only 3% of the sun\u2019s surface covered over Detroit, according to NASA.<\/p>\n

When is the next time an eclipse will be visible over the Chicago area? <\/p>\n

As one would expect considering how infrequently the moon passes directly in front of the sun, fully visible total eclipses over Illinois are very infrequent. Southern Illinois got to see total eclipses in 2017 and 2024, but the next time a total solar eclipse will traverse the state at all will be in September 2099, with the northern suburbs of Chicago getting to see the show. <\/p>\n

Still, there is at least a partial solar eclipse that\u2019s a lot closer than that. According to NASA, a partial solar eclipse on Jan. 14, 2029 will be observable in the Chicago area, covering nearly 60% of the sun\u2019s surface. <\/p>\n

In such instances, it\u2019s still not safe to look at the sun with the naked eye, but using a homemade pinhole projector or other devices can help residents at least get a glimpse of what\u2019s going on. <\/p>\n

According to the National Solar Observatory, <\/a>total solar eclipses are visible roughly every 400 years from a specific spot on the globe, so if you want to see an eclipse sooner than that, it\u2019ll be time to book airfare.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Solar eclipses are always an incredible spectacle to those lucky enough to be in their path, but will…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":763266,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[718,79,193],"class_list":["post-763265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-nasa","tag-science","tag-space"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/763265","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=763265"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/763265\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/763266"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=763265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=763265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=763265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}