On April 8, 2024, join Pioneer Works and the Green-Wood Cemetery to slow down, look up, and celebrate our solar system at a rare astronomical event, a solar eclipse – the last total solar eclipse visible from the contiguous United States until 2044. New York City will experience 90 percent totality and, weather permitting, we’ll get to observe this cosmic occurrence together.
Participants will gather on the grounds of Brooklyn’s historic Green-Wood Cemetery for a unique afternoon of eclipse viewing. Viewers will gather in Green-Wood’s Meadow and at the Historic Chapel, where you can enjoy the celestial spectacle through special-edition glasses and telescopes equipped with solar filters. Enhancing the experience, amateur astronomers will be on hand to operate telescopes and answer questions relating to the eclipse. The celebration will include a diverse array of activities: self-guided explorations and artist-led activations, including an intimate soil soundscape installation, a community mural with the Red Hook Art Project, a listening session pop-up with Sacred Bones Records, and a gong sound bath by Samer Ghadry alongside NASA’s livestream of the eclipse from the path of totality.
Food and soft drinks available for purchase. Vendors include Julian Cavin and La Newyorkina. Drinks bar by Green-Wood (cash and credit card accepted). Enjoy vendor offerings or bring your own snacks. Note: This is an alcohol-free event for a family-friendly atmosphere.
The Cemetery is the ideal setting for eclipse watchers. It is the final resting place of some noteworthy astronomy enthusiasts: writer and astronomer Richard Anthony Proctor – one of the great popularizers of astronomy of the Victorian era who produced one of the first maps of Mars; inventor, author, scientist and philosopher Dr. John William Draper – the first to produce a successful daguerreotype of the moon; and his son, physician and amateur astronomer Henry Draper – the first to photograph a spectrum of a star and of a nebula.
Special-edition eclipse viewing glasses will be available for free on a first come basis. You are welcome to bring a blanket or something comfortable to sit on. This event is free with RSVP. There is no on-site parking.
Note: Please use caution when viewing the solar eclipse. Do not look directly at the sun (not even during an eclipse), unless you are wearing the proper eye protection for viewing.
This program is supported by the Simons Foundation and its ‘In the Path of Totality’ initiative.