Your next solar eclipse isn’t that far away, and it could be even better

Maybe you experienced Saturday’s annular solar eclipse and can’t get enough of it. Maybe the weather or some other cause has given you astronomical FOMO. The good news is that another solar eclipse is coming soon: a total solar eclipse, without a ring of fire.

While today’s solar eclipse covered almost the entire Western Hemisphere, the total solar eclipse on April 8, 2024 will cross three countries: Mexico, the United States and Canada. Some call it the Great North American Eclipse.

The annular solar eclipse and the ‘Great American Eclipse’ of August 2017 both moved from northwest to southeast across the United States. April’s event goes the other way. Landing in Mazatlán, Mexico, it will enter Texas and pass through about a dozen other states before reaching Canada’s eastern provinces. And New Yorkers, this one’s for you, although you’ll have to travel to cities like Buffalo, Syracuse, and Rochester to experience total darkness during the day.

At some places along the path, experiences of other events will be repeated. The April eclipse will pass through Carbondale, Illinois, which was near the center of the 2017 eclipse’s path. And San Antonio and neighboring regions of Texas used today’s annular solar eclipse as a practice run for the crowds they expect for next year’s total solar eclipse.