Get in the Path of Totality
If you’re excited to witness the Total Solar Eclipse on Monday April 8, 2024, then there’s one paramount piece of advice I have for you: Get in the Path of Totality!
In order to see the stunning spectacle of the solar corona during the few minutes of totality, you must be located within this 120-mile wide path where the Moon will cast its shadow as it sweeps across the U.S. from Texas to Maine. (Note: the path also covers parts of Mexico and Canada.) Even if you are just outside the path—say where the Moon will cover up 99% of the Sun—you will experience significant darkening and some of the other secondary effects of the eclipse. But you will miss the main event!
When I returned home after witnessing totality in Sun Valley, Idaho on April 21, 2017, I was dismayed to hear stories from folks who thought that the 95% eclipse seen in the Seattle area was almost as good as 100%. Sure, it might seem like only a 5% difference or even a 1% difference would be close enough to the real thing. But it’s not.
Don’t settle for anything less than 100% inside the path of totality. If the weather blesses you with clear skies, you will experience an unforgettable vision of the delicate halo around the Sun that isn’t visible at any time or place on Earth other that during a total solar eclipse. Here's a link to a very detailed
interactive map of the path of totality for the April 8th event. Use this map to zoom in to any area to scout a viewing location that is well within the path of totality.
—Bryan Brewer, author of ECLIPSE: Experience Awe in the Path of Totality
#getinthepath #2024totalsolareclipse #awesomeeclipse
ECLIPSE: Experience Awe in the Path of Totality, by Bryan Brewer, is now in its fourth edition, which has been updated especially for the
April 8, 2024 total solar eclipse. Author
Bryan Brewer has traveled to witness six total solar eclipses over the past few decades, and has served as an expert speaker on eclipse travel expeditions and for numerous science museums, planetariums, libraries, and bookstores. Bryan enjoys sharing stories and talking about all aspects of eclipses, and has done many media interviews (TV, radio, podcasts, online, and print) to help people get the most out of this rare and truly awesome spectacle of Nature.
