THE DAILY ASTRONOMER
Tuesday, March 21, 2023
Solar Eclipse 2024 # 7: The Most Watched Solar Eclipse Ever?
___________________________________
387 days until the April 8, 2024 total solar eclipse!
___________________________________
Although the Big History series is on hiatus until fall, the Solar Eclipse 2024 series continues.
On April 8, 2024, the moon will pass directly in front of the Sun so as to completely cover it, at least for a few minutes. This upcoming eclipse, dubbed the second Great American Eclipse -the first occurred on August 21, 2017-, might well be the most watched total solar eclipse ever. If you venture out that day to observe what promises to be a magnificent spectacle, you will likely be joined by more than one hundred million others.
Let's examine the map again:
The band stretching from the pacific through Mexico, the US and eastern Canada is the totality path. Only observers within this band will be able to watch the total solar eclipse. Those observers within the grid-region at either side of this band will only observe a partial eclipse, the magnitude of which decreases with increasing distance from the band. The population within this entire area easily exceeds 200 million. Approximately 32 million people reside within the totality path, itself. (Comparethis value to the 12 million people who lived within the 2017 total solar eclipse totality path.)
Some of the cities within the totality path include:
- Dallas/Ft. Worth
- San Antonio
- Austin
- Little Rock
- Buffalo
- Cleveland
- Montreal
- Indianapolis
- Durango
- Erie
- Burlington
Add to the people within these population centers the millions who will travel to them to observe the total eclipse. Although partial solar eclipses can prove quite enthralling, nothing compares to a total solar eclipse. Moreover, after this eclipse, we'll have to wait twenty full years for the next total eclipse to occur in the contiguous US.
As we can see from the map above, the next total solar eclipse visible from the contiguous US won't occur until 2044. Even that eclipse will be limited largely to the upper midwest. However, the following year we'll experience the next Great American Eclipse. As was true in 2017, that event's totality path will extend between coasts. It will even be visible at Disney World, which, based on the continuing elevation of political discourse in our country, will likely be the nation's capital by that time.
So, when you venture out on April 8, 2024 to observe the total eclipse, just know that even if you're by yourself, you certainly won't be alone.
To subscribe or unsubscribe from the "Daily Astronomer"
