Monday, April 8, Total Solar Eclipse Is First of Two 2024 Solar Eclipses

Summary: The Monday, April 8, total solar eclipse is first of two 2024 solar eclipses, favors North America and numbers second in the year's eclipse lineup.

animation of path of total solar eclipse Monday, April 8, 2024: A.T. Sinclair/NASA, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The Monday, April 8, 2024, total solar eclipse is the first of the year's two solar eclipses, appears second in the 2024 lineup of four eclipses and continentally favors North America.

The path of totality for April's solar eclipse first touches the Earth's surface in the South Pacific Ocean and then swings northward into the North Pacific Ocean. North America is the setting for the path of totality's continental trek. Mexico, the United States and eastern Canada experience totality.

Three states in Mexico (Spanish: Estados Unidos Mexicanos; English: United Mexican States) participate in the path of totality. The path of totality angles across Durango (Estado Libre y Soberano de Durango; English: Free and Sovereign State of Durango; Tepehuán: Korian; Nahuatl: Tepehuahcan) and Sinaloa (Spanish: Estado Libre y Soberano de Sinaloa; English: Free and Sovereign State of Sinaloa) in the northwest and Coahuila (Spanish: Estado Libre y Soberano de Coahuila de Zaragoza; English: Free and Sovereign State of Coahuila de Zaragoza) in the northeast.

The path of totality leaves Mexico for the United States at the Coahuila-Texas border. The path traverses Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine.

Six provinces in Canada fall within the path of totality. The path arcs through Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland.

"The 2024 Total Solar Eclipse through the eyes of NASA" map shows path of totality and partiality's contours of obscuration, or percentage of the sun’s area covered by the moon, crossing the U.S. for the 2024 total solar eclipse occurring on April 8, 2024; created by NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio, Visualizers Michala Garrison (lead; SSAI) and Ernie Wright (USRA), Technical support Ian Jones (ADNET Systems, Inc.) and Laurence Schuler; released Monday, July 10, 2023; updated Thursday, July 20, 2023, at 2:34 p.m.: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

April's total solar eclipse begins as a partial solar eclipse and then segues to a total solar eclipse. The lunar eclipse completes totality and subsequently terminates with the end of partiality.

First external contact of the edge of the shadow's penumbra (Latin: penumbra, from paene, “almost," + umbra, “shadow”), that is, the lunar shadow's outer, lighter portion, with Earth's surface occasions the April event's initial partial eclipse. In a partial solar eclipse, the moon's interjection between Earth and the sun involves only partial coverage of the solar disk by the moon. The partial solar eclipse starts Monday, April 8, at 15:42:11.8 Universal Time UT1, according to eclipse predictions by retired NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) GSFC (Goddard Space Flight Center) astrophysicist Fred Espenak on his EclipseWise website. Universal Time UT1 equates to 5:42 a.m. Tahiti Time TAHT; 9:42 a.m. Central Standard Time CST; 11:42 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time EDT; 5:42 p.m. Central European Summer Time CEST).

The penumbral shadow contacts Earth's surface at 14 degrees 57.7 minutes south latitude, 143 degrees 06.0 minutes west longitude. This first external penumbral contact point occurs in the South Pacific Ocean, in French Polynesia (French: Polynésie française; Tahitian: Porinetia Farani), an overseas collectivity of France (French Republic; French: République française).

The contact point lies in the Tuamotu Archipelago (French: Archipel des Tuamotu; Tuamotuan: Tuamotus; Tahitian: Paumotus), one of French Polynesia's five archipelaos. The contact point is sited northeast of Bora Bora (French: Bora-Bora; Tahitian: Pora Pora) in French Polynesia's Society Islands Archipelago (French: Archipel de la Société; Tahitian: Totaiete ma) and southwest of Fatu Hiva, southernmost island in French Polynesia's Marquesas Islands Archipelago (French: Archipel des Marquises; North Marquesan: Te Henua ʻEnana; South Marquesan: Te Fenua ʻEnata (South Marquesan). Fatu Hiva inspired theories of pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact between the pre-European Polynesians and the peoples and cultures of South America postulated by Norwegian anthropologist, explorer and navigator Thor Heyerdahl (Oct. 6, 1914-April 18, 2002) during his 1937-1938 residence on the shield volcano island formed from two interlocking calderas.

The first external umbral contact initiates April's total solar eclipse. This first fall of the edge of the umbra, the darkest, innermost shadow cone, registers at 16:38:49.3 UT1 (6:38 a.m. TAHT; 10:38 a.m. CST; 12:38 p.m. EDT; 6:38 p.m. CEST). The contact point touches Earth's surface at 08 degrees 02.1 minutes south latitude, 158 degrees 12.9 minutes west longitude. This point in the South Pacific Ocean lies slightly northwest of Penrhyn Atoll, northernmost of the Cook Islands (Maori: Kuki 'Airani).

The total solar eclipse's first internal umbral contact involves the first fall of the entire umbral shadow on Earth's surface. This umbral contact occurs at 16:41:06.6 UT1 (6:41 a.m. TAHT; 10:41 a.m. CST; 12:41 p.m. EDT; 6:41 p.m. CEST) at 07 degrees 36.1 minutes south latitude, 158 degrees 50.8 minutes west longitude. This contact point recedes a little more to the northwest of Penrhyn Atoll.

The partial solar eclipse's first internal contact of the penumbral shadow entails the first fall of the entire penumbral shadow on Earth's surface. This first internal penumbral contact takes place at 17:44:57.7 UT1 (7:44 a.m. TAHT; 11:44 a.m. CST; 1:44 p.m. EDT; 7:44 p.m. CEST). Contact with Earth's surface occurs at 19 degrees 45.3 minutes south latitude, 178 degrees 34.2 minutes west longitude. This contact point is located in the North Pacific Ocean, in a triangle anchored by United States Minor Outlying Pacific Islands, with Wake Island (Marshallese: Anen Kio, "island of the kio flower") to the west, Johnston Atoll to the southeast and Midway Atoll (Hawaiian: Kauihelani, "the backbone of heaven"; Hawaiian: Pihemanu, "the loud din of birds") to the north.

visibility regions of Monday, April 8, 2024, partial solar eclipse and path of totality of total solar eclipse; courtesy of Fred Espenak, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center (eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov): Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Greatest eclipse defines the instant of the closest passage of the axis of the lunar shadow cone to Earth's center. This instant occurs at 18:17:17.9 UT1 (8:17 a.m. TAHT; 12:17 p.m. CST; 2:17 p.m. EDT; 8:17 p.m. CEST) at 25 degrees 17.4 minutes north latitude, 104 degrees 08.3 minutes west longitude. Greatest eclipse is positioned at Nazas municipality (municipio de Nazas) in northwestern Mexico's state of Durango (Estado Libre y Soberano de Durango; English: Free and Sovereign State of Durango; Tepehuán: Korian; Nahuatl: Tepehuahcan).

The partial solar eclipse's last internal penumbral contact happens at 18:49:12.4 UT1 (8:49 a.m. TAHT; 12:49 p.m. CST; 2:49 p.m. EDT; 8:49 p.m. CEST) at 74 degrees 10.7 minutes north latitude, 016 degrees 11.3 minutes east longitude. This last internal penumbral contact point is sited in the Norwegian Sea (Norwegian: Norskehavet; Icelandic: Noregshaf; Faroese: Norskahavið), south of the Svalbard Archipelago's largest island, Spitsbergen (Norwegian: Vest Spitsbergen or Vestspitsbergen, southwest of Svalbard's southernmost island, Bear Island (Norwegian: Bjørnøya) and northeast of Norway's Arctic volcanic island of Jan Mayen and of Iceland (Icelandic: Ísland).

The total solar eclipse's last internal contact pertains to the last fall of the entire umbral shadow on Earth's surface. This last internal umbral contact happens at 19:53:18.9 UT1 (9:53 a.m. TAHT; 1:53 p.m. CST; 3:53 p.m. EDT; 9:53 p.m. CEST) at 47 degrees 49.9 minutes north latitude, 019 degrees 26.3 minutes west longitude. The wide expanse of the North Atlantic Ocean, distantly west of the port city of Brest in Brittany's (French: Bretagne; Breton: Breizh; Gallo: Bertaèyn) extreme western Finistère department, is the setting for this contact.

The total solar eclipse's last external umbral contact designates the last fall of the edge of the umbral shadow on Earth's surface. This last external umbral contact takes place at 19:55:34.2 UT1 (9:55 a.m. TAHT; 1:55 p.m. CST; 3:55 p.m. EDT; 9:55 p.m. CEST) at 47 degrees 24.7 minutes north latitude, 020 degrees 07.6 minutes west longitude. The wide expanse of the North Atlantic Ocean, distantly southwest of Brest and north of the transatlantic port of Saint-Nazaire (Breton: Sant-Nazer/Señ Neñseir; Gallo: Saint-Nazère/Saint-Nazaer) in western Brittany's Loire-Atlantique (Gallo: Liger-Atlantel; Breton: Liger-Atlantel) department, catches this exit point from Earth's surface.

April's event terminates with the end of the partial solar eclipse. The last fall of the penumbral shadow's edge on Earth signals the end of the partial solar eclipse. This last external penumbral contact is slated for 20:52:18.9 UT1 (10:52 a.m. TAHT; 2:52 p.m. CST; 4:52 p.m. EDT; 10:52 p.m. CEST) at 40 degrees 33.0 minutes north latitude, 036 degrees 06.0 minutes west longitude. This spot in the North Pacific Ocean lies northwest of Vila do Corvo and Flores Island (Portuguese: Ilha das Flores) in the Western Group of the Azores Archipelago (Portuguese: Arquipélago dos Açores). The Azores comprise one of two autonomous regions of Portugal (Portuguese: Regiões Autónomas de Portugal) that combine with the Portuguese mainland (Portuguese: Portugal continental) to form Portugal (Portuguese Republic; Portuguese: República Portuguesa).

April's total solar eclipse occupies the second appearance in the lineup of four eclipses in 2024. It was preceded by the year's first eclipse, which occurred Monday, March 25, as a penumbral lunar eclipse. A partial lunar eclipse on Wednesday, Sep. 18, succeeds April's solar eclipse as the year's third eclipse. An annular solar eclipse on Wednesday, Oct. 2, numbers as the second of the year's two solar eclipses and closes the 2024 eclipse lineup as the year's fourth and last eclipse.

Monday, April 8, 2024, total solar eclipse details: "Permission is freely granted to reproduce this data when accompanied by an acknowledgment: Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak (NASA's GSFC)," via NASA Eclipse Web Site

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Dedication

This post is dedicated to the memory of our beloved blue-eyed brother, Charles, who guided the creation of the Met Opera and Astronomy posts on Earth and Space News. We memorialized our brother in "Our Beloved Blue-Eyed Brother, Charles, With Whom We Are Well Pleased," published on Earth and Space News on Thursday, Nov. 18, 2021, an anniversary of our beloved father's death.

Image credits:

animation of path of total solar eclipse Monday, April 8, 2024: A.T. Sinclair/NASA, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:SE2024Apr08T.gif

"The 2024 Total Solar Eclipse through the eyes of NASA" map shows path of totality and partiality's contours of obscuration, or percentage of the sun’s area covered by the moon, crossing the U.S. for the 2024 total solar eclipse occurring on April 8, 2024; created by NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio, Visualizers Michala Garrison (lead; SSAI) and Ernie Wright (USRA), Technical support Ian Jones (ADNET Systems, Inc.) and Laurence Schuler; released Monday, July 10, 2023; updated Thursday, July 20, 2023, at 2:34 p.m.: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_2024_Total_Solar_Eclipse_(SVS5123_-_eclipse_map_2024_QR).png; via NASA Scientific Visualization Studio (SVS) Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) @ https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/5123

visibility regions of Monday, April 8, 2024, partial solar eclipse and path of totality of total solar eclipse; courtesy of Fred Espenak, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center (eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov): Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:SE2024Apr08T.png

Monday, April 8, 2024, total solar eclipse details: "Permission is freely granted to reproduce this data when accompanied by an acknowledgment: Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak (NASA's GSFC)," via NASA Eclipse Web Site @ https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEplot/SEplot2001/SE2024Apr08T.GIF

For further information:

Espenak, Fred. "Explanation of Greatest Eclipse and Greatest Duration." EclipseWise > Eclipse Preview: 2021 Through 2030 > Solar and Lunar Eclipses of 2024 > Total Solar Eclipse 2024 Apr 08 > Penumbral Shadow Contacts and Extremes: Total Solar Eclipse of 2024 Apr 08 > Eclipse Data: Total Solar Eclipse of 2024 Apr 08 > Greatest Eclipse and Greatest Duration.
Available via EclipseWise @ https://eclipsewise.com/solar/SEhelp/SEgreatest.html

Espenak, Fred. "Explanation of Penumbral Contacts and Extremes for Solar Eclipses." EclipseWise > Eclipse Preview: 2021 Through 2030 > Solar and Lunar Eclipses of 2024 > Total Solar Eclipse 2024 Apr 08 > Penumbral Shadow Contacts and Extremes: Total Solar Eclipse of 2024 Apr 08 > Explanation of Penumbral Shadow Contacts and Extremes Tables.
Available via EclipseWise @ https://eclipsewise.com/solar/SEhelp/SEpenumbrakey.html

Espenak, Fred. "Explanation of Umbral Contacts and Extremes for Solar Eclipses." EclipseWise > Solar Eclipses > Solar Eclipse Preview: 2022 through 2030 > Solar Eclipse Prime Page: Total Solar Eclipse of 2024 Apr 08 > Eclipse Data: Total Solar Eclipse of 2024 Apr 08 > Umbral Shadow Contacts and Extremes: Total Solar Eclipse of 2024 Apr 08.
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