Solar Eclipse Path Explorer
Explore the ground tracks of 38 notable solar eclipses from 1999 to 2045. Spin the globe, filter by eclipse type or era, and select any path to see the duration, width, and region at greatest eclipse.
31 eclipses shown
April 8, 2024
Total EclipseMexico, USA, Canada
Max Duration
4m 28s
Path Width
198 km
Center Points
10 waypoints
Eclipse Type
total
The 2024 Great North American Eclipse. Path crossed Mexico, 15 US states, and Canada.
Solar Eclipse Science
Types of Solar Eclipses
Total eclipses occur when the Moon fully covers the Sun's disk. Annular eclipses happen when the Moon is too far from Earth to fully cover the Sun, leaving a bright ring visible. Hybrid eclipses are total along part of the path and annular along the rest, as the curvature of Earth changes the apparent size of the Moon.
The Path of Totality
A total eclipse path is only 50 to 300 km wide because the Moon's shadow (the umbra) is much smaller than Earth. Observers inside the path experience totality for up to several minutes. Those outside the path but within several thousand kilometers see a partial eclipse with only a fraction of the Sun covered.
Eclipse Frequency
Total solar eclipses occur somewhere on Earth roughly every 18 months, but any given location sees one only about once every 375 years on average. The central path moves westward across Earth because the Moon's orbital speed is slower than Earth's rotation carries the surface beneath it.
The Saros Cycle
Eclipses repeat in a pattern called the Saros cycle, approximately 18 years and 11 days. After one Saros, the Sun, Moon, and Earth return to nearly the same relative geometry. However, because Earth has rotated by about one-third in that extra 8 hours, each successive Saros eclipse shifts approximately 120 degrees westward. Three Saros cycles (54 years, 34 days) bring the eclipse back to nearly the same longitude.
Duration and Totality
Maximum totality is theoretically around 7 minutes 32 seconds. The duration depends on the Moon's distance from Earth (closer means a larger apparent disk and longer shadow), the Sun's distance (farther means a smaller apparent disk), and the observer's latitude. The longest total eclipse of the 21st century was the 2009 eclipse, reaching 6 minutes 39 seconds over the Pacific Ocean near Japan.