These Illinois Cities Are The Best Places To See The Solar Eclipse

The total solar eclipse is a little over a week away.

Unless you've been living under a rock, you've heard about the total solar eclipse that's getting ready to spread across the U.S. on April 8th. It's going to be very cool as the moon crosses in front of the sun with a specific "path of totality" going across the U.S.

Luckily for those of us in the Midwest, there are some Illinois cities that you can go to to get the best view of the unique event.

Path Of Totality

That's the path of totality, where the most prominent view of the eclipse will be. As you can see, it does cut through southern Illinois so if you're up for a road trip to see the eclipse, grab your eclipse glasses and go to any of these towns.

Illinois DNR has a list of the 31 state parks that will be in the path of totality too. Even if you can't hit the road to see the eclipse, you'll likely still be able to see a partial eclipse from where you're at.

NBC Chicago says that the best cities to go to for a view of the total solar eclipse include:

• Carbondale
• Makanda
• Alto Pass
• Fairfield
• Olney
• Golconda
• Effingham
• Mt. Vernon
• Marion

The Illinois DNR says that in Carbondale, the eclipse will start a little before 2 and will last 4 minutes and 9 seconds, double the time of the 2017 eclipse.

The eclipse is expected to start in the U.S. around 12:30 p.m. then be out of the country by about 3:20 p.m.

If you do want to go outside and see the eclipse, definitely get yourself a pair of eclipse glasses first for safe viewing.