For years our colleagues have been hunting for the next solar eclipse in the most remote places in the world. See e.g. our previous blog posts on AstroSolar.com:
2015: Solar Eclipse Adventure in Svalbard
2016: Solar Eclipse on the Molucca Islands
2017: “Great American Eclipse”- 2019: Solar Eclipse in Chile
We can look forward to two solar eclipses in 2024!
Total Solar Eclipse in America on April 8th, 2024
Observers in Central and North America can look forward to a total solar eclipse on April 8th, 2024. It will start in the western Pacific; then the moon’s shadow will move fast to the north-east. It will cross Mazatlan in Mexico and the Niagara Falls on the border between the USA and Canada, among other places, before leaving the mainland in Newfoundland again. The eclipse then ends in the North Atlantic.
If the weather cooperates, the eclipse can be seen for the longest time in the mountains of Mexico’s Sierra Madre Occidental: The sun will there be eclipsed for almost four and a half minutes.
As the eclipse can be seen from the easily accessible United States of America, affordable accommodation and flights are likely to have long since been booked – but we can expect a great deal of coverage on social media, which should provide us in Europe with numerous images and live streams. Only from the westernmost regions of Europe will we be able to catch a glimpse of a sun that is only eclipsed by a few percent; this eclipse will remain unobservable from Central Europe.
Annular Eclipse on October 2nd, 2024 in South America and the Pacific
For the second eclipse of this year, we have to leave Europe, too: There is a rare annular eclipse on October 2nd, 2024 – unfortunately, the shadow of the moon passes over larger land areas only in the South of South America, otherwise this event can be seen only from the southern parts of the Pacific Ocean. One of the few islands from where it can be seen is the Easter Island, besides that, there are few good spots for observing it. In contrast to a total eclipse, the Sun’s corona will not be visible in october, and the Sun will be so bright during the maximum eclipse that you still need a safe solar filter to lok at it. Large parts of South America can at least witnes a partial eclipse.
A partial solar eclipse will not be visible from Europe again until March 29th, 2025, and a total solar eclipse will finally be visible from Spain again in August 2026. So there’s still plenty of time to plan your 2026 summer vacation!