Qualla: Solar Eclipse of April 8, 2024

Solar Eclipse of April 8, 2024: Introduction

Sun, 22 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

At 11:07 local time on April 8, 2024, the moon's shadow touched down on Mexico's Pacific coast near Mazatlan, and for four minutes the midday sky went dark. Temperatures dropped. Birds fell silent. Across a path up to 200 kilometers wide stretching from Sinaloa to Newfoundland, roughly 44 million people in the path of totality looked up and watched the sun vanish behind the moon. The Great North American Eclipse was the most-watched total solar eclipse in history -- not because it was the longest or the rarest, but because its path cut directly through some of the continent's most populated regions.

Solar Eclipse of April 8, 2024: Four Minutes Over Durango

Sun, 22 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The moon's apparent diameter during this eclipse was 5.5 percent larger than average, a consequence of occurring just one day after perigee -- the point in the moon's orbit nearest to Earth. This proximity produced a magnitude of 1.0566 and a maximum totality of four minutes and ...

Solar Eclipse of April 8, 2024: Across the Heart of America

Sun, 22 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

After crossing the Rio Grande, the shadow entered Texas and did not let go of the continent for another two hours. Totality darkened San Antonio, Austin, Dallas, and Fort Worth before sweeping through Arkansas, where Hot Springs and Little Rock found themselves under the moon's u...

Solar Eclipse of April 8, 2024: The Science of the Shadow

Sun, 22 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

A total solar eclipse occurs when the moon passes between Earth and the sun, and its apparent diameter is large enough to block the entire solar disk. What makes each eclipse unique is geometry: the moon's orbit is elliptical, so its apparent size varies, and the alignment must b...

Solar Eclipse of April 8, 2024: Echoes and the Next Shadow

Sun, 22 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The 2024 eclipse belonged to Solar Saros 139, a family of eclipses that produces a total eclipse roughly every 18 years. Its predecessor was the total eclipse of March 29, 2006, which crossed Africa and Turkey; its successor will arrive on April 20, 2042, crossing East Asia and t...