Great North American Eclipse 2024: Will Millions of People See This Celestial Event?

A historical solar eclipse lasting up to 4 minutes 28 seconds will be visible from Canada, Mexico, and the United States on Monday, April 8, 2024. It will occur precisely 6 years, 7 months, and 18 days after the August 21, 2017 "Great American Eclipse."

Solar Eclipse Visible Across Swath Of U.S. — CASPER, WY - AUGUST 21: A total eclipse with the 'diamond ring' effect is seen from South Mike Sedar Park on August 21, 2017 in Casper, Wyoming. Millions of people have flocked to areas of the U.S. that are in the "path of totality" in order to experience a total solar eclipse. During the event, the moon will pass in between the sun and the Earth, appearing to block the sun. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

The moon's central shadow is expected to pass over the globe in 139 magical minutes. Perhaps that's something to be excited about-and to start preparing for- as millions of people across Nothern America will live the longest period of their lives.

Michael Zeiler, an eclipse cartographer who launched GreatAmericanEclipse.com initially in anticipation of the 2017 total solar eclipse, told Forbes that the 2024 eclipse is almost twice as big as the 2017 eclipse.

Around 215 million Americans saw the 2017 phenomenon but most only witnessed a partial solar eclipse-a relatively uninteresting sideshow. Only about 12 million people were in the path of totality during the complete solar eclipse.

Great American Eclipse 2024: Where to Watch?

To witness the extraordinary results peculiar to eclipse, viewers must be within the direction of eclipse spilling into space. Those who first saw the phenomenon said the dropping temperatures, increasing darkness, beautiful "diamond rings" around the moon, and the white solar corona is hypnotically appealing and addictive.

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The 100-mile wide route of the eclipse will plunge portions of Sinaloa, Durango, and Coahuila in Mexico. Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, tiny slivers of Tennessee and Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and other East Coast portions could also see it on April 8, 2024. The shadow will likewise crash over Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland. It passes across Lake Erie and Lake Ontario on the US-Canada frontier.

The phenomenon would give off fleeting and spellbinding darkness overground for the 139 minutes.

How to Watch?

So, how do you go to watch it? Eclipse chasers are weather obsessives in nature. On E-Day, they can usually be seen with solar eclipse glasses in one hand and their car keys in the other. A couple of days before, Zeiler said they usually keep an eagle eye on the weather forecast.

So we know that we should see it and when we should see it, so how do we refer to it? The 2017 eclipse was dubbed the "Great American Eclipse" because it was the first in 38 years-and the first from coast to coast in 99 years-and it just reached the United States. Because of the four-minute+ length and the passing of so many urban areas from Texas to Maine, Zeiler said 2024 may be dubbed the "Greater American Eclipse," or "Great North American Eclipse."

Zeiler said the United States has a great chance of seeing twin totalities in 2017 and 2024 after a 38-year total eclipse drought. But these aren't the only astronomical events on the horizon for North America. On October 14, 2023, an annular solar "ring of fire" eclipse will be apparent in North America. Zeiler added these events would be followed by complete solar eclipses in Alaska in 2033, Montana in 2044, and a six-minute total eclipse around the world in 2045.