Solar Eclipse 2024: Date, where to watch it and how to buy glasses

The total solar eclipse is one of the most anticipated events of the year. The eclipse will take place on April 8th, 2024 and it will be visible in North America, passing over parts of Mexico, the US and Canada. In the US, it will enter Texas and exit in Maine.

The last time a solar eclipse was visible in the US was in 2017, when it was deemed the “Great American Eclipse” as it was visible across the entirety of the United States. This time, it will cross 12 states and it will be the last time a total solar eclipse will be visible in the contiguous United States until 2044.

Of course, people will be gathering and traveling to watch the eclipse. However, much of its visibility depends on the weather. However, if you want to know more, including how to watch it safely, we’ve got a guide with all the basics.

Where can you see the total solar eclipse in the US?

The solar eclipse of April 8th will be visible in 12 states: Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. Small parts of Tennessee and Michigan will also experience the total solar eclipse. According to Arquitectural Digest, these are the best cities to watch it:

Kerrville, Texas
Russellville, Arkansas
Cape Girardeau, Missouri
Carbondale, Illinois
Bloomington, Indiana
Cleveland, Ohio
Erie, Pennsylvania
Buffalo, New York
Niagara Region, Ontario
Burlington, Vermont
Houlton, Maine

When does the solar eclipse start and end?

The eclipse will begin in Mexico’s Pacific coast at around 11:07 PDT. Meanwhile, it will end on the Atlantic coast of Newfoundland, Canada, at 5:16 p.m. NDT. On the other hand, the totality (when the moon completely covers the sun) will last between four and 3.5 minutes.

Watch the eclipse safely: Which glasses should I wear?

To watch the eclipse, it’s important to wear glasses. You can only watch it directly during totality. Viewing it directly can cause severe eye injury, including temporarily impaired vision or even permanent blindness. So be careful!

It’s important to watch the eclipse with glasses (Sean Gardner/Getty Images)

While there are many options you can choose from online and in stores, the American Astronomical Society has warned that there are many fake and counterfeit eclipse glasses “polluting the marketplace,” as they wrote in a statement in late March.

In order to know if your glasses are legitimate, you can check out the American Astronomical Society’s website in which you can see a curated list of approved vendors. These are some of the options they recommend: