On April 8, 2024, you will have the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to witness with your own eyes the spectacular moment of a full and total solar eclipse.
The eclipse will be viewable to millions of people spanning across a large area of the U.S. continent, making it one of the must-see astronomy events in the past ten years.
If you miss it, the next time you’ll get the chance to see another one won’t be until the year 2045.
“The opportunity to see an eclipse without traveling internationally should not be missed,” expert eclipse photographer Gordon Telepun told AccuWeather. “It’s two years before the eclipse, but it is not too early to begin making plans.”
The eclipse will be bigger than the Great American Eclipse that happened back on Aug 21, 2017, and was viewable from Oregon to South Carolina. According to the astronomy experts, this next one will be even more spectacular than the last.
The experts said the totality will last for more than four minutes and to see the total solar eclipse, you must be in the right place at precisely the right time.
This path the eclipse with following is called the path of totality where over 31 million Americans live and will have a greater chance of viewing it.
Experts say being in the path and being on the outside of the path on April 8 will literally be the difference between night and day.
“The path of the 2024 eclipse across North America is exciting,” Telepun said. “It crosses more large cities than the 2017 path.”
A few cities and states the path of totality will cover will be Dallas and Austin, Texas; Little Rock, Arkansas; Indianapolis, Indiana; Cleveland and Dayton, Ohio; Buffalo, New York; Burlington, Vermont; and Montreal, Quebec.
Other large cities that you can travel to and see the eclipse better will be San Antonio, Texas, St. Louis, Chicago, Cincinnati, Detroit, and Pittsburgh.
The only concern is that the weather forecast is unpredictable and no one is one-hundred percent sure about what the weather will be like on April 8, 2024.
“The weather in April could present challenges along the entire path,” Telepun said. “Watching the weather fronts a few days before the eclipse will be essential to success. If you manage to position yourself in clear skies on eclipse day, you have a chance to observe and image the corona. It’s spectacular, no doubt about it!”