![]() ![]() More people are also likely to see it this time. ![]() Along most of the eclipse path, people can experience more than four minutes of totality, compared to a maximum of around two and a half minutes back in 2017. For starters, it will last almost two minutes longer. As exciting as that was, however, the 2024 eclipse will in some ways be even better. The 2017 eclipse was a cross-country affair, with a path of totality that stretched across the U.S. Meanwhile, countless people who missed out in 2017 heard from their friends just how awe-inspiring that event was, and have pledged not to miss out in 2024. On August 21, 2017, what some dubbed the “Great American Eclipse” crossed the United States, giving many Americans the chance to see their first solar eclipse-and now millions more are likely hooked. Since then, I’ve been privileged to have seen four more eclipses, including one that was visible from Easter Island in 2010-a truly memorable event. The eclipse played hide-and-seek with the clouds that day, but it was stunning nonetheless-and I was hooked. The path of totality crossed Hawaii and Mexico but missed the contiguous 48 states, so I flew to Mexico’s Baja California Peninsula to witness it. During totality, the sun’s wispy outer atmosphere, known as the corona, becomes visible, while the landscape down below turns nearly as dark as night. ![]() Those who make their way to the “path of totality” will see the moon gradually slide in front of the sun, reducing it to a thin crescent and then finally blotting the sun out altogether-for a few brief but spectacular minutes. If you want to make the most of this dramatic event, you’ll need to plan ahead.Ī total solar eclipse happens when the moon lies exactly between the sun and the Earth, casting its shadow on a small patch of the Earth’s surface. In just about one year from now, on April 8, 2024, one of nature’s grandest spectacles-a total solar eclipse-will be visible from a slice of North America stretching from Mexico to eastern Canada. ![]()
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