On April 8, 2024, there will be a rare total solar eclipse that will go across Canada, Mexico, and some parts of America. The solar eclipse will occur around midday and cross over some states including New York, Ohio, Illinois, and Texas. If the clouds are clear California and many other states will also be able to witness this rare eclipse. 

Solar eclipses themselves aren’t too rare but a total solar eclipse is a lot more rare. Most of the time humans don’t get to see it because they have a good chance of crossing over the ocean instead of continents. This will be the first total solar eclipse this century to be visible in all three North American countries, America, Canada, and Mexico. This makes the eclipse probably the only total solar eclipse that many of us will see in a lifetime. 

This eclipse will last a total of 2 hours, it will start to be visible in Mazatlan, Mexico on the Pacific coast and start to move northeast over Texas, then to Oklahoma, Missouri, Illinois, Ohio, New York and eventually going over Canada and ending in Newfoundland.  The places that the eclipse will directly go over will have 100% totality meaning it will go completely dark for them, while places around will receive some shadow. 

The eclipse will also provide much information to scientists who use radars to study charged particles high in the atmosphere. Unlike the other two eclipses that have crossed North America, this one will be in the observing range of those radars. Some scientists will also gather information from observing the sun just before its solar maximum to compare it to other eclipses. After this eclipse, North America won’t have eclipses for a very long time. So everyone should take time and enjoy this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.