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Solar eclipse 2024
Your chance of seeing Monday's eclipse may be lower.
New calculations by John Irwin, an expert on eclipse calculations, indicate that the total path of the solar eclipse — where the Moon will completely block the Sun — is actually 600 yards narrower than NASA's official forecast.
This means that if you plan to view the eclipse from a place on the edge of the path of totality, you may have a shorter window.
Some sites you will miss completely.
Based on this new data, areas that were expected to witness the total eclipse for a few seconds – such as Rome and New York; Effingham, Illinois; and Cité Jardin Park in Montreal, are now out of the area.
The change in the total route of 115 miles wide and 9,200 miles long was First reported by Forbes.
A NASA scientist confirmed that the old official map may not be completely accurate and advised people on the edge to travel a mile or so into the area to ensure they see the moon completely blocking the sun.
Reason for the discrepancy: disagreement over the size of the sun.
“Calculations using a slightly larger radius for the size of the Sun yield a slightly narrower eclipse path,” says Dr. Michael Kirk, a research scientist in the Heliophysics Division at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. He said excitement Wednesday.
“This difference will only affect cities at the edge of the overall trajectory, where comprehensive forecasts are difficult, regardless.
“A few buildings in the city could somehow mean 20, ten, or zero seconds of the total.”
The total eclipse area could also be affected slightly by “uncertainties in the Earth's rotation,” Kirk said.
“Travelling toward the center of the kidney's path — even a mile or two — will quickly increase the length of the kidney that people can see.”
Any slight difference in the area will not affect the vast majority of the estimated 34 million people expected to witness the total solar eclipse on Monday.
Everything you want to know about the 2024 solar eclipse
- The solar eclipse will occur on Monday, April 8, blocking the sun for more than 180 million people in its path.
- The eclipse will extend from the Pacific coast of Mexico across North America, hitting 15 US states and pulling itself to the coast of Newfoundland, Canada.
- New Yorkers will witness a solar eclipse after 2 p.m. on Monday afternoon.
- A huge explosion at the Sun, known as a coronal mass ejection, is expected, according to experts. This happens when massive particles from the sun are launched into space, explains Ryan French of the National Solar Observatory in Boulder, Colorado.
- To avoid serious eye injury, it is necessary to view the event with appropriate glasses such as eclipse glasses, or a portable solar projector, during the partial eclipse phase before and after totality.
- The next total solar eclipse will occur on August 12, 2026. Totality will be visible to residents of Greenland, Iceland, Spain, Russia and a small sliver of Portugal.
Many major US cities such as Dallas, Indianapolis, Cleveland and Buffalo are still in the middle of the path, and will see approximately four minutes of total darkness.
The longest period of darkness in the region will be in Torreon, Mexico, where the sun will be blocked for four minutes and 28 seconds.
By the time the eclipse becomes visible in Lake Placid, New York, the total duration will have reduced to three minutes and 21 seconds.
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