Total solar eclipse — North America (2024)
On 8 April 2024 a total solar eclipse crossed Mexico, the United States and Canada. About 31.6 million people lived inside the path in the US alone, and Dallas saw a black Sun over downtown for 3 minutes 52 seconds.
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The story
On 8 April 2024 the Moon's dark shadow reached Mazatlán on Mexico's west coast. It then crossed Texas, the Ohio valley and New England, and left North America over the eastern coast of Newfoundland in Canada. The band where the Sun was completely hidden was about 198 km wide at its widest. In the United States alone, about 31.6 million people lived inside this band, and many more lived in it in Mexico and Canada.
The eclipse was special for another reason too: the Sun's activity. The Sun goes through a cycle of about eleven years, becoming busy and then quiet again, and 2024 was close to its busiest time. So when the Sun was covered, its outer atmosphere, the corona, stretched out far in every direction, and several prominences, red loops of glowing gas visible to the bare eye, stood on the edge.
The Sun stayed hidden longest, 4 minutes 28 seconds, near the town of Nazas in Durango, Mexico. The US section of the path began at Eagle Pass in Texas and passed through Dallas, Little Rock, Indianapolis, Cleveland, Buffalo and Burlington. In Dallas totality began at 1:40 in the afternoon and lasted 3 minutes 52 seconds. In Canada the path included the area around Montréal, New Brunswick and Newfoundland.
The weather varied from place to place. Many sites in Mexico and Texas saw totality through breaks in the clouds, while cloud spoiled the view in parts of the north-eastern United States. The orbit view reproduces, as if seen from space, the moment when the Sun, the Moon and Earth line up. The next total eclipse to cross North America is expected on 12 August 2045.
Viewing guide — where, when, how
The Sun was completely hidden along a band starting at Mazatlán (11:07 a.m.), then through Durango and Torreón, Eagle Pass and Dallas in Texas (1:40 p.m.), Little Rock, Indianapolis and Cleveland, Buffalo and Niagara, Burlington and the area near Montréal, and on to New Brunswick and Newfoundland. All of North America saw at least a partial eclipse. It could not be seen from Asia or Australia, where it was night.
In a total eclipse, filters may come off only during the short time when the Sun is completely covered, and the corona can then be viewed with bare eyes. During the partial phases before and after, certified eclipse glasses must be worn. As soon as even a small piece of the Sun reappears the light becomes very strong, so glasses must go back on the moment totality ends.
The sky view follows the Sun over Dallas and slows down to reproduce the moment it is completely covered. Changing the viewing place to Mazatlán or Buffalo recalculates the scene with that city's times and length of totality. Switching to Montréal shows the Sun being covered later in the afternoon, lower in the sky. This lets you compare how the length of totality and the Sun's height differ from place to place.
See this for yourself — open that sky at that moment · replay the moment in the orbit view
Why this eclipse is special
A total eclipse near the peak of solar activity is a good chance to study the corona. In 2024 NASA's WB-57 high-altitude research aircraft flew along the Moon's shadow and photographed the corona. High in the sky there are no clouds in the way, and chasing the shadow keeps the Sun covered for longer. Comparing the corona at quiet and busy times shows how the Sun's magnetic field changes.
Seven years earlier, in August 2017, another total eclipse had crossed the United States. With two total eclipses over the same continent only seven years apart, many citizen scientists observed both in the same way. They could measure how much the temperature fell, how animals behaved and how radio signals changed, and then compare the two sets of results.
It was a large event for society as well. Hotels in cities along the path were booked early, and small towns welcomed far more visitors than their usual population. Many more people watched together on television and online broadcasts. It was an example of one sky event setting people in motion across a whole continent.
Background and earlier eclipses
This eclipse is the 30th member of Saros 139. The previous member crossed Africa and Turkey on 29 March 2006, and the next is the total eclipse of 20 April 2042 over South-East Asia. The total eclipses in this series are getting longer, and calculations show that in 2186 it will produce a very long totality of 7 minutes 29 seconds.
The path overlapped with the path of the October 2023 annular eclipse in Texas, half a year earlier. It also crossed the path of the August 2017 total eclipse near Carbondale in southern Illinois. That made Carbondale widely known as a town that saw two total eclipses within seven years. It is uncommon for one town to see two total eclipses so close together.
North America's next total eclipse will be in Alaska on 30 March 2033. After that, the eclipse of 23 August 2044 is expected to cross western Canada and Montana, and on 12 August 2045 a total eclipse will cross the United States again from California to Florida. Of these, the 2045 eclipse is expected to cross a wide stretch of the mainland United States, as in 2024.
FAQ
How long was totality in Dallas?
3 minutes 52 seconds, starting at 1:40 p.m. The longest was near Nazas, Mexico, at 4 minutes 28 seconds.
Why was the corona more dramatic than in 2017?
2024 was close to the peak of solar activity, so the corona spread in every direction and there were many prominences. In 2017 the Sun was relatively quiet.
How many people lived inside the path?
About 31.6 million in the United States alone. Adding Mexico and Canada makes the number larger, and most of North America saw a partial eclipse.
When is the next North American total eclipse?
30 March 2033 in Alaska. The next one to cross the continent is on 12 August 2045.
Related
- The 2017 Great American Eclipse
- The 2023 annular over the US West
- The 2027 total eclipse — six minutes of darkness
- The 2033 total eclipse over Alaska
- The Sun — object index
Times and figures are approximate — verify with official sources when planning travel. Simulation uses J2000 mean elements.