The sun, moon and Earth will line up perfectly on 21 August, turning day into night for a few minutes from Oregon to South Carolina
Cape Canaveral, Florida: The US is in a rare bulls-eye for the total solar eclipse coming up in two weeks.
It will be the first full solar eclipse in nearly a century to stretch coast to coast. It will also be the first in the lower 48 states in 38 years. The sun, moon and Earth will line up perfectly that Monday, turning day into night for a few minutes from Oregon to South Carolina. A partial eclipse will extend up through Canada and down to the top of South America.
The total eclipse on 21 August will last just one-and-a-half hours as the lunar shadow sweeps across the country.
Some eclipse tidbits :
What’s a total solar eclipse?
When the moon passes between Earth and the sun, and scores a bull’s-eye by completely blotting out the sunlight, that’s a total solar eclipse . The moon casts a shadow on our planet. Dead center is where sky gazers get the full treatment. In this case, the total eclipse will last up to two minutes and 40-plus seconds in places. A partial eclipse will be visible along the periphery. Clouds could always spoil the view, so eclipse watchers need to be ready to split for somewhere with clear skies, if necessary.
What’s the path on 21 August?
The path of totality will begin near Lincoln City, Oregon, as the lunar shadow makes its way into the US. This path will be 60 to 70 miles wide (97 to 113 kms); the closer to the centre, the longer the darkness. Totality will cross from Oregon into Idaho, Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, North Carolina and, finally, South Carolina. It will also pass over tiny slivers of Montana and Iowa. The eclipse will last longest near Carbondale, Illinois: two minutes and 44 seconds. The biggest cities in the path include Nashville; Columbia and Charleston, South Carolina; Salem, Oregon; Casper, Wyoming; and just partially within, St. Louis and Kansas City, Missouri.
Last total solar eclipses in US?
Hawaii experienced a total solar eclipse in 1991. But the US mainland hasn’t seen a total solar eclipse since 1979, when it swooped across Oregon, Washington state, Idaho, Montana and North Dakota, then into Canada. Before that, in 1970, a total solar eclipse skirted the Atlantic coastline from Florida to Virginia. Totality—or total darkness—exceeded three minutes in 1970, longer than the one coming up. The country’s last total solar eclipse stretching from coast to coast, on 8 June 1918 , came in over Oregon and Washington, and made a beeline for Florida.
When’s the next one?
If you miss the 21 August eclipse—or get bitten by the eclipse bug—you’ll have to wait seven years to see another one in the continental US. The very next total solar eclipse will be in 2019 , but you’ll have to be below the equator for a glimpse. We’re talking the South Pacific, and Chile and Argentina. It’s pretty much the same in 2020. For the US, the next total solar eclipse will occur on 8 April 2024 . The line of totality will cross from Texas, up through the Midwest, almost directly over Indianapolis, Cleveland and Buffalo, New York, up over New England and out over Maine and New Brunswick, Canada.