A rare total solar eclipse will occur across Mexico, the U.S., and Canada on April 8, 2024, when the moon will pass between the Earth and the Sun, blocking the sun’s rays during the day time, causing a temporary period of darkness. TIME Editor-at-Large Jeffrey Kluger explains the best way to experience it.
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00:00 Total eclipses occur when the moon passes directly between the Earth and the Sun, blocking
00:10 solar light.
00:12 Since 1900, only 12 have touched the U.S. mainland, most of them only glancingly.
00:19 On average, a total solar eclipse will happen where you live only once every 375 years.
00:27 Why are they so rare?
00:28 Well, the Sun is about 400 times larger than the moon, but the Sun is also 400 times farther
00:35 away, so the two bodies appear about the same size to us on Earth.
00:41 The moon orbits the Earth once each month, so why doesn't its shadow touch the Earth,
00:47 causing an eclipse with each pass?
00:51 Partly because the moon's orbit is tilted slightly, which causes its shadow to miss
00:55 the Earth most of the time.
00:59 But it's also because the moon's orbit is elliptical.
01:02 For much of its path, the moon is farther away from Earth and appears too small to block
01:07 out the Sun completely.
01:09 Those eclipses are called annular.
01:13 Only when the eclipse occurs at the moon's closest approach is a total eclipse possible.
01:19 Even then, the narrow band of totality usually tracks over water or away from population
01:25 centers.
01:27 That's why this eclipse on April 8th is so special.
01:31 As it crosses the Texas border at about 1.27 p.m. local time, cities closest to the center
01:38 of the path, like Waco, Cleveland, and Buffalo, could witness up to four minutes or more of
01:44 darkness.
01:45 In all, 31 million U.S. residents live in the path of the eclipse.
01:51 Even if you don't live in the path of totality, most of the U.S. will experience some level
01:56 of darkness.
02:00 It's a two-hour spectacle that you don't want to miss, because the next total solar eclipse
02:05 to hit the U.S. mainland won't be until 2044.
02:09 [MUSIC PLAYING]