Total solar eclipse path 2024: Search your city, ZIP code for best viewing times
On April 8, the Great American Eclipse will cut a path across the U.S., giving millions the opportunity to see a total solar eclipse.
And while almost all of the U.S. will get to experience the eclipse, 15 states will be along the path of totality, meaning they will experience the greatest periods of darkness when the moon blocks out the sun. Those states are Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, New York, Pennsylvania, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine, as well as small parts of Kentucky, Michigan and Tennessee.
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The eclipse will begin over the South Pacific Ocean before passing over Mexico and then into the U.S. and Canada. Weather permitting, the first location in continental North America that will experience totality is Mexico’s Pacific coast at around 11:07 a.m. PDT, according to NASA. It will exit continental North America on the Atlantic coast of Newfoundland, Canada at 5:16 p.m. NDT.
How much of the eclipse will you see?
People viewing the eclipse from the path of totality will be treated to the ghostly-white outer atmosphere of the sun, known as the corona, when the moon completely blocks out the sun’s disk during the total eclipse, NASA explained. Along the path, the sun will be blocked out for about 4-and-a-half minutes.
Viewers in locations outside the path will not experience the total eclipse but will likely see a partial one, depending on how close they are to the center line.
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Wondering how much of the eclipse you will see? NASA has a tool that lets you search by city or ZIP code to see complete eclipse details. For example, in Huntsville, the eclipse will start at 12:42 p.m. and be completely finished by 3:18 p.m. At its maximum, 90% of the sun will be covered by the moon.
In Birmingham, the eclipse will start at 12:41 p.m. and be finished by 3:17 p.m. with 86% coverage. In Mobile, the eclipse will start at 12:34 p.m. and end at 3:12 p.m. with 79% of the sun covered by the moon.