This month’s celestial phenomenon that occurred on April 8, 2024, was known as a solar eclipse. The last time that this had occurred was in August of 2017, but before that, it hadn’t been seen since 1979. The line of totality, an area with complete coverage of the moon, and the sun, both times made its way across the North American sky. 

Why was this eclipse so significant? Much like the 38-year gap between 1979’s solar eclipse and 2017’s, the next visible eclipse in North America like this won’t be until 2044. People flocked to the line of totality to witness this beautiful event. It was visible from the following states: Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. 

What is a solar eclipse? It occurs when the moon is in the new moon phase of its monthly cycle and covers the sun completely mid-day. They are relatively rare, and not often seen. Every eclipse has a different length of totality. This is because of where the earth is in relation to the moon, casting a different shadow ranging from three to even ten percent. The complete coverage of the sun lasted about 4 minutes before things returned to normal. This isn’t the longest record of the total coverage phase; the year 1973 has the current recorded record of seven minutes. 

This was a day for not only astronomers to value but also for the tens of millions of people who were able to view it throughout North America. This event truly was something worth witnessing this year.