The eclipse
at a glance.
Image credit : R. Lucchesi/ESO
The eclipse zone
The dark stripe marks the trajectory of the moon's shadow across the globe. Be at the center of it to experience the total eclipse. In the white dashed line delimited zone, witness a partial eclipse, with the extent decreasing as you move farther away.
The totality path will travel accross Mexico, 13 states of the U.S. and south-east Canada.
The following places will experience at least a partial solar eclipse : The whole U.S. (except Alaska), Canada, Greenland, Central America ( Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama), Cuba, Haïti, Jamaica, Porto Rico, Iceland, Part of Svalbard Archipelago (Norway).
What will it
look like ?
This animation provides a glimpse of the eclipse as it would appear to an observer situated on the central line in Texas. It illustrates the gradual coverage of the sun by the moon over the specified time period indicated by the counter.
You can observe the moon starting to cover the right side of the sun. Keep in mind that the moon's position in relation to the sun may vary depending on your specific location for observing the total eclipse.
The eclipse
from above
The only solution to enjoy the total eclipse for a longer duration than the maximum of 4 minutes and 38 seconds is to take a plane and attempt to follow the shadow movement as swiftly as possible. However, even with a supersonic plane, it's impossible to match the speed of the shadow.
Astronauts aboard the International Space Station have a unique perspective on the eclipse as they can observe the shadow traveling across the globe.
The eclipse
Magnitude
The magnitude of a solar eclipse is a measure of the fraction of the Sun's diameter covered by the Moon as viewed from a specific location on Earth. It must be at least 1 to result in a total solar eclipse. It impacts the duration of totality: the greater the magnitude, the longer the totality phase.
The moon’s orbit is not perfectly circular. As a result, the distance from the moon to Earth, hence its apparent diameter, can fluctuate. That defines the duration of the totality.
The totality sequence. Image credits : Guillaume Cannat.
04:28
mn:s
Totality max duration
To witness the longest total eclipse, Mexico is the place to be (Durango). In the United States, the totality duration varies from 4 minutes and 27 seconds in Texas to 3 minutes and 22 seconds in Maine. In Newfoundland, it will be 2mn 53s.
2:30
h:mn
Whole eclipse duration
This is the approximate duration (depending on your location) of the entire phenomenon, starting from the moment the moon begins to nibble at the sun's disk (partial eclipse) until it completely withdraws.
112
miles
Totality path width
180 km:This is the average width of the path within which it will be possible to witness a total solar eclipse. It ranges from 124 mi (199 km) in Mexico to 100 mi (161 km) in Newfoundland, Canada.
9200
miles
Totality path length
14 800 km: the moon's shadow initially makes contact with Earth in the South Pacific Ocean, before crossing Mexico, the United States, and a portion of Canada. Finally, it ends its journey in the Atlantic Ocean, approximately 680 miles (1100 km) off the European coasts.
2830
miles per hour
Moon umbra ground speed
4550 km/h: this is the average speed at which the moon’s shadow will sweep across the globe. The shadow will arrive on the shores of Mexico at a speed of 1560 mph (2510 km/h) and depart from the shores of Canada at 4727 mph (7607 km/h).
43
millions
Population on the path
43 million people reside along the path of totality. Including visitors, 50 million attendees are expected to witness the grand show. This will make it the most-viewed total solar eclipse ever.
Feel the thrill of the eclipse !
In this Startalk episode, Neil DeGrasse Tyson interviews Joe Rao, a renowned meteorologist who has seen 13 total solar eclipses. Joe shares his experience and explains how the total eclipse can become addictive.
THe eclipse timeline
How to read the timeline.
The main time scale (left part) is in Universal Time, equivalent to the Greenwich Meridian time. This is a convenient way to refer to the date of an event, especially for global and astronomical events. For better convenience, the timeline displays the conversion in various time zones in the U.S. (right part).
Pacific Daylight Time
Mountain Daylight Time
Central Daylight Time
Eastern Daylight Time
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