He said it’s such a weird, indescribable experience that he’s already thinking about the next eclipse he’ll chase after April.

“There are guys that have (seen) 30-plus eclipses and even they can’t put it into words,” he said, “There are people traveling to southern Illinois from Ireland, from all over the U.K., just to come for this. It kind of puts it into perspective, how (monumental) this is.”

From across the pond

To see the 2017 total eclipse, Neil Pick traveled from the United Kingdom to Paducah, Kentucky, 70 miles south of Carbondale. This time around, he’ll be staying with family friends who recently moved to Cape Girardeau, Missouri, a city just across the Illinois border.

“Conveniently — for me,” Pick said with a chuckle. “Obviously, I knew it was going to occur another six, well, seven, years and a bit later. And I enjoyed it so much the first time I thought, ‘Well, why not?'”

In 2017, Pick and his son flew from the small British town of Driffield to Atlanta before driving to Kentucky. Outside their hotel, they joined about two dozen people and waited for hours trying to beat the summer heat and humidity in the shade. He worried clouds would obscure the event.

“But they didn’t. It was absolutely perfect, blue skies, as it happened,” he said. “So, quite privileged, in all honesty, to travel all that way for 2 ½ minutes of eclipse and get clear blue skies. Because the experience was so good, it’s obviously quite vivid and quite engraved in my memory.”

He especially remembers animals quieting down and insects chirping in the middle of the day for a bizarre and eerie few minutes.

“People say it’s like night during the day, but it’s not. It’s not the same as night,” he said. “It’s just a quirk of nature, basically, isn’t it?”

After April, the 53-year-old is hoping to see at least two more total eclipses closer to home: one over northern Spain in 2026 and another over southern Spain near the Strait of Gibraltar in 2027.

“So I’ve got those two penciled in for a visit, but after those dates, I think they’re rather a bit remote or quite ahead in the future,” he said. “I’m not a particularly spiritual person, but you do feel quite elated from the event. It’s one of nature’s best shows.”

94% in Chicago

A total eclipse is a particularly special astronomical phenomenon because of its wide reach and easy accessibility, said Nichols from the Adler. While only the areas within the path of the lunar shadow — 120 miles wide — will see the moon cover the sun completely, NASA says every contiguous U.S. state and some parts of Alaska and Hawaii will experience at least a partial solar eclipse.

That means about 99% of people who reside in the United States will be able to see the partial or total eclipse from where they live.

“You don’t have to pick a highly populated area to go see a solar eclipse,” Nichols said. “If it’s within a few hours’ driving distance, just get into where they’re going to see totality, pull off on the side of the road, carefully, and watch it. … That’s what makes not having to drive very far a great perk. You don’t have to spend thousands of dollars to go to some far-flung part of the Earth.”

Chicago will experience a partial eclipse between 12:51 p.m. and 3:22 p.m. on April 8. At the height of the eclipse over the city, precisely 2:07 p.m., the moon will cover up to 94% of the sun.

The last total solar eclipse occurred in the Chicago area in 1806, more than three decades before the city of Chicago was founded. The next total eclipse visible from the city will take place on Sept. 14, 2099. Someone born on April 8 of this year will be 75 years old then.

Those seeing only a partial eclipse will have to keep their safe solar viewing glasses on when looking up to protect their eyesight. They can also make a pinhole projector out of an index card and a push pin to project an image of the partial eclipse down onto the ground.

“For anyone outside of seeing totality, there’ll be no part of the solar eclipse that you can look at with just your eyes,” Nichols said. “Even 10% of sun is too much sun to look at directly.”

As weather permits, the Adler will hold a free “Eclipse Encounter” with telescopes and solar viewers from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m.

Nichols said she always tells first-time and even second-time eclipse viewers to try not to take pictures during totality. Plenty of professional photographers, she said, will take beautiful pictures.

“You do not want to waste those precious seconds, tens of seconds or a few minutes fumbling around with technology or staring at your screen, she said. “This is definitely not the time to do that. If you want the ultimate ‘Be in the moment,’ this is the ultimate ‘Be in the moment.'”

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