Dust off your eclipse glasses: It’s only a year away from a total solar eclipse sweeping across North America.
He April 8, 2024, the moon will cast its shadow across a swath of the United States, Mexico and Canada, plunging millions of people into midday darkness.
It’s been less than six years since a total solar eclipse spanned the United States from coast to coast. Was the August 21, 2017.
If you miss next year’s show, you’ll have to wait 20 years for the next one to hit the US. But that total eclipse will only be visible in Montana and the Dakotas.
Here’s what you need to know to prepare for the 2024 show:
WHERE CAN I SEE HIM?
Next year’s eclipse will cross North America diagonally on April 8, which falls on a Monday.
It will begin in the Pacific and make landfall over Mexico around 11:07 a.m. local time, NASA predicts. It will then cross Texas and traverse through parts of the Midwest and Northeast in the followingnoon.
In total, it will affect 13 US states: Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. In its trajectory are cities such as Dallas, Little Rock (Arkansas), Indianapolis, Cleveland and Buffalo (New York).
In some areas of Canada, such as Quebec and Newfoundland, it will also be visible before the eclipse heads out to sea in the early followingnoon.
A total eclipse will be visible in a 115-mile-wide swath, the path of totality. Outside of that path, you’ll still be able to see a partial solar eclipse, in which the moon eats a piece of the sun and turns it into a crescent.
Total eclipses occur approximately every 18 months, but they often traverse remote areas where few people see them.
WHAT HAPPENS DURING AN ECLIPSE?
Solar eclipses occur when the Moon comes between the Earth and the Sun, preventing sunlight from reaching us.
Although the Moon is regarding 400 times smaller than the Sun, it is also regarding 400 times closer to Earth, explains Doug Duncan, an astronomer at the University of Colorado. So when the orbits align correctly, the small moon can block out the entire Sun. Those who stand in the right places will experience totality: when the moon casts its shadow across the landscape.
“In a matter of seconds, you go from bright, bright daylight to like the middle of the night,” said Dr. Debby Brown, who viewed her first total eclipse in 2017 with Duncan in Wyoming’s Grand Teton National Park.
“The stars are out. All of a sudden all the animals go quiet,” recalls Brown, from Arlington, Virginia.
During the eclipse of 2024, totality will extend to regarding four and a half minutes, almost twice as long as in 2017.
WHERE IS THE BEST PLACE?
To fully enjoy the eclipse, planning ahead is essential, Duncan explains. The weather might be a big factor, as the eclipse will occur in the spring, when conditions are unpredictable. That’s why Duncan chose Texas for his eclipse tour next year, where the skies are most likely to be clear.
The choice also depends on the type of experience you’re looking for, explains Bob Baer, eclipse planning coordinator at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale.
Carbondale, at the crossroads of the eclipse paths of 2017 and 2024, will once once more hold a viewing event at the university’s stadium. It’s a great group experience, Baer said: “The last 20 minutes before totality, the stadium gets as loud as a football game.”
But all kinds of events are scheduled along the eclipse’s path: luxury cruises in Mexico, music festivals in Texas, farm camping in Arkansas, visits to planetariums in upstate New York.
“At the end of the day, the goal is to get as many people as possible out into the street and looking up during totality,” explains Dan Schneiderman, who helps the Rochester Museum and Science Center plan the events. “Hopefully, with your close friends and loved ones.”
It’s a good idea to have eclipse glasses to see the partial phases before and following totality, Schneiderman added. Looking at the partially covered sun without protection can cause serious eye damage.
Brown and her husband are scheduled to join Duncan’s visit to Austin to view the eclipse. Her first experience with an eclipse flew by.
“I’m looking forward to enjoying it even longer,” Brown said. “To be able to enjoy the moment.”
WHAT OTHER ECLIPSES ARE COMING?
In the United States, there will be eclipses before the big event of 2024. Later this year, on October 14, there will be an annular eclipse (when the Sun is not completely covered, but appears as a ring of fire in the sky). .
The path of that eclipse will cross from Oregon to California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.
A rare hybrid eclipse will occur later this month, alternating between total and annular eclipses at various points along its path. But few people will see it. The eclipse on April 20 will occur mainly in the Indian Ocean and will only cross parts of Australia and Southeast Asia.
With a 20-year window until the next total solar eclipse in the United States, Duncan says it will be worth being on the path of totality next year. He so far he has witnessed 12 total eclipses.
Seeing a partial eclipse – even if it’s 90% covered – means “you’ve missed out on all the good stuff,” he says.
