Where and when can you view the solar eclipse of 2024?

A total solar eclipse is coming to North America. On April 8, the moon will pass between the Earth and the sun, perfectly aligned to block the entire disk of the sun in a phenomenon called totality. It will be visible from a strip of land that stretches from Mexico across the United States into Canada.

The eclipse will begin in the Pacific Ocean, about halfway between North America and New Zealand, and will begin to be visible off the west coast of Mexico at 8:42 a.m. local time. It begins as a partial solar eclipse, with the moon slowly moving to cover more and more of the sun. The totality event was first observed in Mexico at 9:38 a.m. local time.

As the sun and moon move across the sky, the eclipse will be visible over a 185-kilometre-wide area of land known in the United States as totality. It will pass through 13 states, from Texas to Maine, and enter southern Ontario, Canada. The last place to see the eclipse on land will be Newfoundland, where the sun’s visibility will return to normal at 5:16 p.m. local time.

The duration of totality varies by location, from less than 2 minutes to nearly 4.5 minutes. This is because the moon’s orbit around the Earth is not a perfect circle, and neither is the Earth’s orbit around the sun, so the distances between the three bodies change throughout the day.

Solar eclipse in 2024

On April 8th, a total solar eclipse will pass over Mexico, the United States, and Canada. Our special series covers everything you need to know, from how and when to see a solar eclipse to the strangest solar eclipse experience of all time.

During a total solar eclipse, the moon’s shadow moves across the ground at speeds of over 2400 kilometers per hour, forming a dark patch that darts along the ground. In this shadow, the temperature drops rapidly and the sky becomes strangely dark, making planets and stars visible even during the day. Total solar eclipses are important to scientists because they provide a rare opportunity to measure the outermost layer of the sun, called the corona. This tenuous layer is much fainter than the Sun’s disk, making it difficult to observe normally.

Viewers in areas just outside the total path will also be able to see the eclipse, but it will only be partial, with the moon covering a smaller portion of the sun. A partial solar eclipse will last about 3 hours. Partial solar eclipses, which include the period just before and after a total solar eclipse, must be viewed through a special solar filter. Such filters are available in the form of eclipse glasses. However, regular sunglasses do not provide sufficient protection for the viewer’s eyes. Do not look directly at the sun without a solar filter, even during a partial solar eclipse.

If you don’t have eclipse glasses, don’t despair. A partial solar eclipse can still be seen, just not directly. You can use any object with holes, such as a colander or paper with pinholes, to project an image in the shape of an eclipse onto a screen or onto the ground. Even between the leaves of the trees the ground is speckled with strange sunlight that changes like a crescent moon.