Total solar eclipse arrives in the US this year. How close will it come in California?
A rare total solar eclipse will cast a shadow over parts of the United States this spring.
On April 8, the moon will orbit between the sun and Earth, fully blocking the sun, according to NASA.
Skies in sections of Mexico, Canada and the U.S. will darken for a few minutes as the moon passes by.
However, the so-called “path of totality” will miss California, according to NASA.
The path of totality extends more than 9,000 miles across the planet and is about 115 miles wide, Space.com said.
“It’s the cone-shaped inner (umbral) shadow of the moon projected onto Earth’s surface and only from within it does the moon appear to entirely block the sun,” according to the website.
For this total solar eclipse, the path trails along the East Coast and the southern parts of the country, including Texas, New York, Indiana and Arkansas.
How close will total solar eclipse get to California?
According to NASA, the total solar eclipse will first pass over Mexico.
“The path of the eclipse continues from Mexico, entering the United States in Texas, and traveling through Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine,” the agency said on its website.
The closest cities to California that will see the total eclipse are San Antonio, Austin and Fort Worth in Texas, according to a map by the Great American Eclipse.
A map from NationalEclipse.com shows that some California cities may see a partial eclipse instead.
Los Angeles may see 48.9% of the eclipse, the map showed, and San Francisco may see about 34%.
When will solar eclipse happen in 2024?
Mexico’s Pacific Ocean coast will be the first to see the eclipse at its totality at around 11:07 a.m. Pacific Time on April 8, NASA said.
“The eclipse will exit continental North America on the Atlantic coast of Newfoundland, Canada, at 5:16 p.m. (local time),” the agency said, which would be 12:46 p.m., Pacific Time.
San Antonio will see totality at 1:33 p.m. Central Time, Austin at 1:36 p.m. Central Time and Indianapolis at 3:06 p.m. Eastern Time.
After this year’s eclipse, the next total solar eclipse visible in the United States is expected in 2044, according to NASA.
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