On Monday, April 8, 2024, a total solar eclipse will cross North America, and Ripley’s is celebrating this Astro Oddity with a free watch party and very special guest at Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Grand Prairie – one of the first U.S. cities to experience totality!
12:00 p.m. Watch Party Opens to the Public
12:23 p.m. Partial Eclipse Begins
1:40 p.m. Totality Begins
1:42 p.m. Maximum Totality
1:44 p.m. Totality Ends
3:02 p.m. Partial Eclipse Ends
Believe It or Not! this will be only the second total solar eclipse in the U.S. in less than seven years. The Great North American Eclipse will even have about two more minutes of maximum totality compared to 2017!
Ripley’s will be hosting Michael Papadakis, aka @Sunscribes , for a live art activation at this event. Dubbed Heliography , he uses an array of mirrors and lenses to focus the Sun's powerful rays into art! Believe It or Not! he will be immortalizing this unique day in solar history on a wooden canvas using the eclipsing Sun itself!
Sunscribes owes his success to patience and safe practice, always wearing UV protective clothing and eyewear – just as you should at Ripley’s Astro Oddities event. Looking directly at the Sun can cause permanent damage or even blindness, so special eclipse glasses or viewers must be used (sunglasses don’t cut it!). Luckily, Ripley’s will be selling eclipse glasses on-site for $3.00.
Join us at Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Grand Prairie for this free celestial celebration, full of hands-on activities, cosmic treats, and a phenomena you must see to believe!
Wait, wait… what is a solar eclipse anyway? A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes directly between the Earth and the Sun and the Moon blocks the Sun for a viewer on Earth. During this time, the Moon lines up perfectly to fully obscure the Sun, referred to as "totality.”