Skygazers, mark your calendars! For the first time since 2017, a total solar eclipse will be visible in the US on April 8. The magnificent celestial event will sweep across the North American continent, with the first visibility on Mexico’s Pacific coast at 11:07 am PST, per NASA. Here’s what to know as millions of people across the United States, Canada, and Mexico get ready to witness the sky turn black in broad daylight.
Thanks to the path of totality being a densely populated region, millions will be able to witness the grand eclipse. This year, the total solar eclipse will be visible across 13 US states. You can check when and where below:
Dallas, Texas: 1:40-1:44 pm CDT
Idabel, Oklahoma: 1:45-1:49 pm CDT
Little Rock, Arkansas: 1:51-1:54 pm CDT
Poplar Bluff, Missouri: 1:56-2:00 pm CDT
Paducah, Kentucky: 2-2:02 pm CDT
Carbondale, Illinois: 1:59-2:03 pm CDT
Evansville, Indiana: 2:02-2:05 pm CDT
Cleveland, Ohio: 3:13-3:17 pm EDT
Erie, Pennsylvania: 3:16-3:20 pm EDT
Buffalo, New York: 3:18-3:22 pm EDT
Burlington, Vermont: 3:26-3:29 pm EDT
Lancaster, New Hampshire: 3:27-3:30 pm EDT
Caribou, Maine: 3:32-3:34 pm EDT
Why is the total solar eclipse in 2024 special?
For the second time in seven years, a total solar eclipse will occur on Monday, April 8. What makes this year’s solar eclipse special is that the event will take place when the sun is at its peak activity level, in contrast to 2017, when the activity levels were minimal.
“The eclipse that we have coming up in 2024 is going to be a very different eclipse from what we saw in 2017 because this corona that we see is going to have much more structure,” says Lisa Upton, a solar scientist at the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colo, per Scientific American.
