Abstract

Illinois, the “crossroads” of the United States where a total solar eclipse was visible in both 2017 and 2024, was uniquely positioned to connect people with these two extraordinary sky phenomena. The Adler Planetarium reached across the entire state to engage audiences with both eclipses. This paper outlines the goals for Adler’s 2017 Year of the Eclipse and 2023-2024 Eclipses Across Illinois projects and the results of both these efforts.

1. Introduction1

The Adler Planetarium (“the Adler”) in Chicago, Illinois is the western hemisphere’s oldest planetarium, opening on May 12, 1930. The Adler has a decades-long history of presenting sky observing events to the public, such as solar eclipses, lunar eclipses, meteor showers, planetary transits, comets, and others. The solar eclipse of August 21, 2017, the first total solar eclipse to cross the United States since 1979, was expected to be a spectacle with the potential for off-the-charts public interest. Beginning in 2015, Adler Planetarium staff began to develop plans for outreach programs onsite at the Adler and remotely for the solar eclipse: a project titled Year of the Eclipse.

2. 2017: The Year of the Eclipse Goals & Activities

The goals of Year of the Eclipse were, as follows:

1. increase the capacity of organizations in and around Chicago to host their own eclipse observing events,

2. make residents of Chicago, the surrounding suburbs, and those in the region aware of what was happening,

3. empower people with the skills and tools to observe the eclipse themselves,

4. serve as a trusted source of information for the public and the media,

5. provide eclipse resources for those who might not otherwise have access to them,

6. reach traditionally underserved audiences,

7. engage a variety of communities and get them interested in our Universe, even if they had not been interested previously, and

8. bring Chicago together to view the sky.

The project activities were:

1. Temporary exhibit: In March 2017, the Adler opened Chasing Eclipses, a temporary exhibit that ran through January 2018. The exhibit highlighted eclipse chasing as an activity that people have undertaken for several centuries of human history. It also featured eclipse-themed items from the Adler’s collection of historic astronomical instruments and works on paper.

2. Solar glasses branding and distribution: Solar glasses were designed by staff and ordered from Rainbow Symphony.2

3. Community partner workshops and public presentations: In summer 2017, Adler staff designed and facilitated workshops for education staff at local museums to help them develop their own eclipse programming in the days and weeks leading up to the eclipse. Adler staff also developed presentations to be given to audiences at Chicago-area public libraries.

4. Communications campaign: The communications effort consisted of a two-pronged campaign: a) engaging social media audiences and b) serving the media. The social media campaign was centered around the Big Glasses, which were three eight-foot wide, six-foot tall, one hundred-pound colorful “solar glasses” that were taken around the city of Chicago and set up temporarily at parks, libraries, and other locales. Guests who engaged with them were encouraged via signage on the glasses to photograph them and post them online, using the hashtag #EquippedtoEclipse. As for traditional and online media connections, staff distributed press releases, media alerts, and press kits beginning in March 2017, starting with messaging about the Adler’s Chasing Eclipses temporary exhibit. Adler content experts were also trained and scheduled to be available to respond to eclipse-related media inquiries and interview requests on very short notice.

5. Astro Road Trip: In 2017, Adler’s Public Observing program staff brought free activities to schools, breweries and brewpubs, restaurants, a science center, a library, a community college, and State of Illinois recreational facilities in southern Illinois in the week before the eclipse.

6. SIU-Adler partnership: Beginning in 2015, Adler Planetarium staff participated in the development process for Southern Illinois University Carbondale’s eclipse festival and stadium show.

7. Chicago’s Eclipse Fest block party: The centerpiece activity at the Adler was a large block party event in the parking lot just south and west of the Adler’s main building on the day of the eclipse. Components of Chicago’s Eclipse Fest included food trucks, partner organizations, bounce castles, science activities, twelve solar-filtered telescopes featuring eclipse image projections, sidewalk murals, live music, and more.

3. 2017: Project Results

1. Temporary exhibit: The Chasing Eclipses exhibit proved to be an extremely important focal point to gain media attention and traction months before national interest in the eclipse started materializing. Producers of video content used the exhibit as a backdrop for several dozen broadcasts and pre-recorded segments. Tens of thousands of Adler guests viewed the exhibit from March 2017 to January 2018.

2. Solar glasses branding and distribution: Adler staff distributed approximately 250,000 solar glasses to programming partners and directly to the public. The solar glasses were a useful way to spread the Adler brand outward to community partners who may not have had the opportunity to purchase solar glasses themselves.

3. Community partner workshops and public presentations: Adler staff gave several dozen public presentations at libraries in June, July, and August 2017 and facilitated workshops for education staff at local museums. Utilizing for-profit and non-profit community partners in the program planning allowed the Adler brand to reach even more people than Adler staff efforts could reach alone. On the day of the eclipse, parks, libraries, and other properties in the Chicago area became community gathering hubs for eclipse viewing, and at least 20,000 people gathered at satellite observing locations to view the eclipse.

4. Communications campaigns: The Big Glasses social media campaign focused attention on the eclipse starting about 6 weeks prior to August 21, 2017, with several thousand people showing up at the various Big Glasses sites to obtain free Adler solar viewing glasses. In the week leading up to the eclipse, there were a total of 1.5 billion worldwide media impressions for all online articles & postings featuring the terms “Adler Planetarium” and “eclipse,” with an equivalent dollar amount for those impressions of more than $4 million, if those had been paid media placements.

5. Astro Road Trip: The Adler’s outreach program to southern Illinois the week prior to the eclipse reached a larger audience than expected, thanks to relationships forged through an ongoing partnership with Southern Illinois University Carbondale. This weeklong program served more than 3,000 people.

6. SIU-Adler partnership: More than 13,000 people jammed Saluki Stadium to view the eclipse in a live 5-hour hosted program. Participating in this program provided the Adler with access to local, national, and international audiences who traveled to Carbondale, Illinois to see the eclipse.

7. Chicago’s Eclipse Fest block party: On the morning of the block party, volunteers and staff handed out 30,000 solar viewing glasses to the public who had gathered in line at the Adler Planetarium. A satellite event in Daley Plaza in Chicago’s downtown Loop put 10,000 pairs of solar-viewing glasses into the hands of workers and passersby who couldn’t attend the event at the Museum Campus. An estimated 60,000 people attended Chicago’s Eclipse Fest on the Museum Campus, and tens of thousands more watched the eclipse from street corners and open spaces in downtown Chicago.

4. 2017: House of Representatives committee testimony

On September 12, 2017, the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, Subcommittee on Research and Technology, and Subcommittee on Space of the U.S. House of Representatives invited the author of this paper to testify at a hearing entitled “The Great American Eclipse: To Totality and Beyond.” The purpose of the hearing was to help inform planning for future large-scale astronomical events and future investments in astronomy and STEM education. As the only museum representative on the panel, the major goal of testifying was to communicate the Adler Planetarium’s support for “1) financial and programmatic support for out-of-school-time institutions to continue providing science activities to the public, 2) support for institutions and organizations to communicate with each other and jointly plan and sustain small and large science programs that have a variety of impacts, and 3) support for institutions to bring high-quality science and engaging science activities, at low or no cost, to underserved populations in urban, suburban, and rural locations. We hold fast to our core belief that making science welcoming, engaging and accessible to ALL helps strengthen communities socially, culturally, and economically.”3 It was hoped that congressional support and attention would result in increased access to resources for informal education institutions for the 2023 and 2024 solar eclipses.

5. 2020: What happened next

By the end of 2017, staff were proud of the team’s accomplishments, the Adler had gotten substantial media, public, and congressional attention, and everyone looked forward to improving what the Adler offered for the 2023 and 2024 solar eclipses. Unfortunately, the events of 2020 caused the entire institution to radically adjust future plans.

On March 14, 2020, the Adler Planetarium closed to the public due to the rapidly escalating COVID-19 pandemic. By late spring, the global consequences of a lockdown and the expected long-term economic impact were becoming clearer. In May 2020, the increasingly dire situation forced Adler’s leadership to lay off more than 60% of the Adler’s 190 staff members.

Adler's programming goal was to pivot from in-person programming efforts toward new and interactive digital content. The closure to in-person guests was expected to last for about two years, which was the expected amount of time before the Adler and other institutions would be allowed full capacity for guests. Developing digital content was of utmost importance to keep connected to followers, donors, and supporters. New YouTube-based programs4 such as Skywatch Wednesday, Sky Observers Hangout, and a space science comedy variety show, Wow! Signal, were spun up and developed over several months. Millions of people throughout the world enjoyed them during the museum’s closure. Millions more engaged with the online citizen science platform, the Zooniverse,5 and through rich stories featured in many Google Arts and Culture exhibitions6 and blog, The Adler ‘Scope.7 Schools and enrichment programs participated in virtual learning experiences8 in a three-dimensional, online Mozilla Hubs world built to teach students about the size and scale of the planets in our solar system.

The Adler Planetarium reopened to the public in early March 2022, just one week short of a full two-year closure. At the time of reopening, the total number of Adler staff had expanded from a pandemic-low of 76 to approximately 125. Staff began making plans to undertake a solar eclipse programming project with less funding and fewer staff but with an adjusted focus to only do those project elements that best supported the institution’s mission: To connect people to the Universe and each other under the sky we all share.

6. 2023-2024 Project: Eclipses Across Illinois Goals & Activities

What was apparent before the pandemic but became even more apparent during the pandemic is that there is a profound public interest in astronomical phenomena that can be viewed with the naked eye. Even though the Adler Planetarium’s location was outside the solar eclipse path of annularity in 2023 and outside the path of totality in 2017 and 2024, staff felt that public interest in the eclipses was going to be as strong as it was in 2017, and probably even more so thanks to increased social media attention on sky phenomena during the pandemic years and the fact that the April 8, 2024 total solar eclipse would be the last total solar eclipse to be visible in the lower-48 United States until the 2040s. Project planning for Adler Planetarium’s Eclipses Across Illinois project began in 2022.

The overarching goals for Eclipses Across Illinois were:

1. increase the capacity of organizations across Illinois to host their own eclipse observing events,

2. make residents of Illinois aware of the solar eclipse,

3. empower people with the skills and tools to observe the eclipse themselves,

4. serve as a trusted source of information for the public and the media,

5. provide eclipse resources for those who might not otherwise have access to them,

6. reach traditionally underserved audiences,

7. engage a variety of communities and help get them interested in our Universe, and

8. bring Chicago together to view the sky.

The target audience for Eclipses Across Illinois expanded to encompass the general public across the entire state. How this programming expansion was possible involved utilization of pandemic-developed digital programs, an expanded social media reach that allowed greater use of digital platforms such as YouTube, multiple external funding sources, and leveraging external partnerships. The project activities consisted of:

1. Temporary exhibit: Staff designed and installed a reprise of the original 2017 Chasing Eclipses temporary exhibit, featuring updated images, captions, and items from the Adler’s world-renowned historic instruments collection.

2. Solar viewers branding and distribution: In 2017, public libraries were one of the most respected and trusted sources for solar eclipse materials and information.9 Organizations funded spectacularly successful nationwide solar glasses distribution and resource development efforts targeting public libraries,10 and did so again in 2023-2024 (Figure 2). The Adler’s project goals included a concerted effort to try to reach all public libraries in Illinois because the prior programs had primarily reached non-rural locales, with many Illinois rural libraries still missing out on obtaining these resources. This program was made possible due to strategic partnerships with statewide library resource distribution systems, the Reaching Across Illinois Library System (RAILS)11 and the Illinois Heartland Library System.12 These organizations already distribute books and materials between and to their member libraries across the state, so packaging and giving resources to these organizations to distribute made it easier and less expensive to reach library audiences. Packets for each of the more than 700 public libraries in the state of Illinois contained 125 solar viewers and a booklet of solar eclipse content information and suggested activities.13

3. Community partner professional development workshops: Staff designed online and in-person eclipse content workshops for library staff through RAILS, Illinois Heartland, and the Illinois Library Association.14 These sessions were made possible partly thanks to online access that these organizations developed during the pandemic when library staff could not gather in person for workshops. Staff also facilitated content sessions at local and statewide in-person library meetings, workshops, and conferences. In addition to professional development sessions for library staff, the same was offered to education staff at two partner museums, the DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center and the National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts & Culture.15

4. Communications campaigns: While budget and staffing levels did not exist to do the same 2017 Big Glasses marketing campaign in 2023 or 2024, the large glasses statues were still available for eclipse efforts. Two of the original three sets were reskinned with new solar eclipse information and placed onsite at the Adler Planetarium (Figure 1). In addition, one of the statues was made completely functional as a pair of safe solar viewing glasses for eclipse day. These statues were used as onsite photo opportunity locations and educational tools.

5. Astro Road Trip: As was done in 2017-2019 and 2023, Adler’s Public Observing program staff brought free solar eclipse-themed educational activities to schools, breweries and brewpubs, restaurants, a science center, library, community college, and State of Illinois recreational facilities in southern Illinois in the week before the eclipse.16

6. SIU-Adler partnership: On April 7, 2024, Adler staff hosted a live 1-hour Sky Observers Hangout17 solar eclipse preview program on YouTube from Shryock Auditorium on the SIU Carbondale campus, and on April 8, 2024, Adler staff also hosted the 2.5 hour stage show for attendees in Saluki Stadium.18^,19

7. Eclipse Encounter ’23 and Eclipse Encounter ‘24: Public events were planned for both eclipses. The main difference between the Eclipse Encounter public events and Chicago’s Eclipse Fest in 2017 was the scope and scale of onsite programming. Because Adler programming budgets and staffing levels could not support another large block party event, the primary activity that both events were designed around was engagement with the sky. Staff and volunteers facilitated telescopes providing large projected images of the Sun, which allowed guests to easily gather in groups around each telescope, see images clearly from several feet away from the telescopes, take photos of the solar images, and take photos of themselves alongside the solar eclipse images. Eliminating the length of time that it takes to get people individually up to a telescope eyepiece would allow more people to see the telescope view, especially since many people would also want to take pictures of the Sun. The solar projection rigs were designed and 3D printed by Steve Cosgrove, a long-time veteran Adler Planetarium telescope volunteer. Guests were also encouraged to bring blankets and lawn chairs to spread out on the Adler’s grounds and the surrounding Museum Campus park spaces to be with others and enjoy the event. Staff also planned to distribute solar viewers before the event, and tents were available for Adler store and cafe outdoor sales. Prior to the event, it was estimated that about 5,000 people might attend the April 8 eclipse event.

7. 2024: Project Results

1. Temporary exhibit: Tens of thousands of Adler guests have visited the exhibit, and it will remain into Winter 2025. Because the exhibit designs still existed from 2017, re-mounting it was not as staff-intensive as it would have been had this required developing an entirely new exhibit.

2. Solar viewers branding & distribution: Through just 4 packet deliveries to RAILS, Illinois Heartland, and Chicago Public Library partners, Adler staff distributed a total of 128,300 solar viewers and 780 informational booklets to all public library branches across the state of Illinois (Figure 3). Documented attendance at events hosted by 98 public libraries around the state of Illinois before and during the April 2024 solar eclipse was 19,931 people, though Adler staff strongly suspect this to be an undercount of the actual total. An additional 104,800 solar viewers were distributed to schools, Chicago-area organizations, the public, and others for a total reach of 233,100.

3. Community partner professional development workshops: Adler Planetarium staff facilitated 13 in-person and online eclipse-themed workshops from November 2022 to February 2024 for 650 Illinois public library and museum partner staff.

4. Communications campaigns: Adler staff created several social media image and video products in 2023 and 2024 to support science content and advertising around both eclipses. Five social media posts went viral, which is loosely defined as interaction on a social media account primarily from people who don’t follow the account plus posts where the number of comments reaches an unmanageable level. One TikTok video had over 400,000 views and one Instagram post had more than 700,000 views. In all, the amount of social media reach, defined as views, in 2023/2024 across all Adler Planetarium social media accounts was 30 to 40 times what was documented in 2017. Also, thanks to a robust press release and media alert distribution effort, between July 1, 2023 and April 8, 2024, there were a total of 22 billion worldwide media impressions for all online articles & postings featuring the terms “Adler Planetarium” and “eclipse,” with an equivalent dollar amount for those impressions of more than $217 million, if those had been paid media placements. This number of media impressions means that the Adler Planetarium’s name likely reached the same people across multiple online and print platforms and resources a dozen times or more over the course of 9 months.

5. Astro Road Trip: The 2024 continuation of the Adler’s weeklong outreach program to southern Illinois served more than 1,500 people.

6. SIU-Adler partnership: 125 attendees watched the Sky Observers Hangout program in person at SIU’s Shryock Auditorium, with more than 3,000 online program viewers. On April 8, 2024, 13,500 people from all 50 states and 5 countries gathered in Saluki Stadium to view the eclipse in a lively 2.5-hour program designed and created by SIU Carbondale Theater Department faculty member Matt Williams and hosted by Adler Planetarium staff. An additional 30,000 people enjoyed the eclipse in and around the SIU campus, with more than 45,000 attendees on campus for the weekend of the eclipse.20

7. Eclipse Encounter ‘24: High winds and rain forced a complete cancellation of the October 2023 Eclipse Encounter outdoor program in Chicago. By contrast, the April 2024 event vastly exceeded expectations. Approximately 20,000 people21 attended Eclipse Encounter ‘24 on the Museum Campus, and thousands more watched the eclipse from street corners and open spaces in downtown Chicago (Figure 4, Figure 5, Figure 6, Figure 7). Volunteers and staff handed out 7,000 solar viewers prior to the start of the event. Thousands more watched the eclipse from libraries, public spaces, parks, and schools around the state of Illinois (Figure 8, Figure 9).

8. Conclusions

Thanks to incredible public interest in a celestial event, strategic local and statewide partnerships, significant external funding support, expansive social media and traditional media reach, and focusing more limited staff and budget resources on programming that aligned best to the mission of the Adler Planetarium, the result was that Eclipses Across Illinois really did reach audiences across the entire state of Illinois. While it may be a long time before there is a sky event on the interest scale of the recent eclipses, the Adler Planetarium is looking to the future of the partnerships forged by this project:

• Discussions have already begun around future astronomy content-themed professional development opportunities for library staff through the Illinois Library Association’s Noon Network program. One session was held in September 2024 and another is scheduled for February 2025.

• Adler Planetarium staff will participate in programming for SIU Carbondale’s fall star party in October 2024,

• Adler Planetarium staff continue to participate in NSF- and NASA-funded grant projects led by SIU Carbondale, REAL Field Trip Model and SolarSTEAM, through mid-2025, and

• The Adler’s Astro Road Trip outreach program will return to schools and other southern Illinois locales in early 2025 in advance of the March ‘25 total lunar eclipse.

The programming models and results should also be valuable resources to help inform plans for the forthcoming 100th anniversary of the Adler Planetarium on May 12, 2030.

Acknowledgements

The Adler Planetarium gratefully acknowledges the support and enthusiasm of all of our programming partners and supporters for Eclipses Across Illinois: Bob Baer, Dr. Corinne Brevik, Dr. Harvey Henson, Karla Berry, Matt Williams, Sarah Vanvooren, and all of the faculty, students, volunteers, and staff at Southern Illinois University Carbondale; Blair Allen and the NASA EDGE team; Dr. Troy Cline; Dr. Lou Mayo; Dr. Rick Fienberg, Dr. Angela Speck, and the American Astronomical Society Eclipse Task Force; Julie Wittenborn-Sikorski; The DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center; National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts & Culture; Mitchell Museum of the American Indian; Lurie Children’s Hospital; Tamara Jenkins and the staff and members of the Illinois Library Association; Joe Filapek and the staff and member libraries of the Reaching Across Illinois Library System (RAILS); the staff and member libraries of the Illinois Heartland Library System; Shelley Hughes and the commissioners and staff of the Chicago Public Library; Chicago Park District; Chicago Botanic Garden; WonderWorks Children’s Museum; Bruce Matthews and First Christian Church in Fairfield, IL; Century Elementary School in Ullin, IL; Unity Point Elementary School in Carbondale, IL; Marion Carnegie Public Library in Marion, IL; Herrin Junior High in Herrin, IL; Trico Junior High in Campbell Hill, IL; Big Muddy Brewing in Murphysboro, IL; Mark and Sophie Margolis and the staff of Rainbow Symphony; Jeff Krey and Titan Image Group; Vern Cline, Robin Cline, and Ken Walczak; the Adler Planetarium’s corporate partner Comcast and the Comcast staff and members of the general public who volunteered at Eclipse Encounter ’24; Steve Cosgrove; the Adler Planetarium telescope volunteer corps; the programming partner staff members who participated in trainings and events in advance of the eclipses; the tens of thousands of attendees at Eclipse Encounter ’24; and everyone in the state of Illinois who took time out of their busy day to spend a few moments looking up at the Sun together.