In the United States, 31 million people already live within the totality pathway.
Scroll down to see the list of US cities where the April 8 total solar eclipse will be visible, the duration of the eclipse in those locations and the time at which the total eclipse will begin, according to GreatAmericanEclipse.com.
On April 8, 2024, a historic total solar eclipse will cast a shadow over parts of the United States, bringing a mass travel event to the path of totality — from Texas to Maine and many states and cities in between.
A total solar eclipse occurs when the moon passes between the sun and the Earth, completely blocking the face of the sun for a short period. According to NASA.
The path of the moon's shadow across the Earth's surface is called the path of totality, and to view the April 8 total solar eclipse, viewers must be within the 115-mile-wide path.
Eclipse travel
In the United States, 31 million people already live within the path of totality, bringing the celestial phenomenon to their doorstep, Michael Zeller, a solar eclipse mapping expert at GreatAmericanEclipse.com, told ABC News.
But for off-the-beaten-path individuals, an investment of time and money is necessary to fully experience the event.
Eclipse chasers, or shadow lovers, are individuals who will do almost anything, and travel almost anywhere, to see a total eclipse, according to American Astronomical Society.
“There is a very active community of solar eclipse chasers and we will do our best to see a solar eclipse anywhere in the world,” Zeller said. “We are all united in witnessing the unimaginable beauty of a total solar eclipse.”
Bringing together eclipse experts and novice skywatchers, the April 8 total solar eclipse is expected to be the largest mass travel event in the United States in 2024, according to Zeller, who likened it to “50 simultaneous Super Bowls across the country.”
“When you look at the number of people expected to arrive in the path of a total solar eclipse, we estimate that those numbers are roughly equivalent to 50 simultaneous Super Bowls across the country, from Texas to Maine,” he said.
Eclipse map, path of total eclipse
In the United States, the path of the total eclipse begins in Texas, and will pass through Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. Small parts of Tennessee and Michigan will also see a total solar eclipse, according to NASA.
Best times and places to view the eclipse
Here's a list of some of the U.S. cities where the April 8 total solar eclipse will be most visible — pending weather forecasts — the duration of the eclipse in those locations and the time the total eclipse will begin, according to GreatAmericanEclipse.com.