Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017

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The solar eclipse that takes place on August 21, 2017 will be a total eclipse of the Sun with a magnitude of 1.031 that will be visible from a narrow corridor through the United States. A partial eclipse will be seen from the much broader path of the Moon's penumbra, including the whole of North America, northern South America and western Europe and Africa. This eclipse will be the first total solar eclipse visible from the United States since 1991 (visible in parts of Hawaii)[1], the first visible from the contiguous United States since 1979,[2] and the first with a path of totality crossing the country's Pacific and Atlantic coasts since 1918. This eclipse is a member of Saros cycle 145, which also produced the solar eclipse of August 11, 1999.

The longest duration of totality will be 2 minutes 40 seconds in Christian County, Kentucky just northwest of Hopkinsville. The path of this eclipse crosses at right angles the path of the total eclipse of April 8, 2024, with the intersection of the paths being in southern Illinois just south of Carbondale. A small area, including the cities of Carbondale, Cape Girardeau, Missouri, and Paducah, Kentucky, will thus experience two total solar eclipses within a span of less than seven years.

The United States, in the 45 years before this eclipse will have experienced a rather long total eclipse dry spell. Some American scientists and interested amateurs seeking to experience a total eclipse participated in a four-day Atlantic Ocean cruise to view the Solar eclipse of July 10, 1972 as it passed near Nova Scotia. Organizers of the cruise advertised in astronomical journals and in planetarium announcements emphasizing the lack of future U.S. total eclipses until this 2017 event.^[1]

The path of totality of the the Solar eclipse of February 26, 1979 went through the U.S. states of Washington, Montana, and North Dakota. Many professionals and tourists traveled to the Pacific Northwest to view the eclipse, as it would be the last chance to view a total solar eclipse in the United States for almost four decades.^[2]^[3]

A 1991 article in Discover magazine noted that "The total solar eclipse of July 11, 1991", which passed over Hawaii and significant portions of Mexico, "will be the best anyone will be able to see from the continental US until 2017."^[4]

1 Notable times and coordinates
2 Type of the eclipse
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Notable times and coordinates

Event	Time (UTC)
Beginning of the general eclipse	15:46:48
Beginning of the total eclipse	16:48:32
Beginning of the central eclipse	16:49:33
Greatest eclipse	18:25:28
End of the central eclipse	20:01:35
End of the total eclipse	20:02:30
End of the general eclipse	21:04:19

[edit] Type of the eclipse

Nature of the eclipses	Total
Gamma	0.4369
Magnitude	1.0306
Duration at greatest eclipse point	160 s (2 min 40 s) at 18:25:28 UTC, in Christian County, Kentucky: 36°58′30″N, 87°39′18″W
Maximum width of band	114.7 km

[edit] References

^ "Let There Be Darkness, Please; When Mercury Is at Quadrature, the Social Director Is a Lonely Man For Two Extremely Short Minutes Everyone Gaped Into the Sky", The New York Times, July 30, 1972. p. XX1
^ "Thousands Go West for a Total Solar Eclipse Tomorrow; Data May Aid Energy Research Partial Eclipse for New York Best Types of Film Image of Sun on Screen", The New York Times February 25, 1979. p. 26.
^ "Total Eclipse of the Sun Darkens Skies in Northwest; Total Eclipse Casts Two Minutes of Darkness in West Temperature Falls Sharply Learned of Weather Peculiarities Data on Plasma Sought", The New York Times February 27, 1979. p. A1.
^ "The Great Baja Eclipse", Discover (magazine) January 1991. p. 90.