Millions of people will be able to don protective glasses and view a spectacular total solar eclipse on April 8, 2024, starting around 1 p.m. CT.
If this sounds familiar, it’s because in 2017, a 70-mile-wide band of the US saw a total solar eclipse, while many other areas saw a partial eclipse. People drove across states and gathered near planetariums just to see those fleeting minutes when, in the middle of the day, the sky went dark.
But the total eclipse coming in April will be even cooler, excited NASA scientists told reporters at an American Geophysical Union meeting.
“Those of us who’ve seen eclipses know that you want to see your next one,” Kelly Korreck, NASA’s program manager for the 2024 solar eclipse, said during a roundtable at the meeting.
She added that having one in such recent memory likely has many people excited for this year’s.
While total solar eclipses aren’t exactly rare, there are a few circumstances around this upcoming event that make it unique, from its path across the US to an abundance of solar activity to a plethora of scientific projects that NASA and others have planned for the few minutes when the moon will seem to cover the sun.
