This eclipse is a member of saros series 139, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, 8 hours, containing 71 events. The series started with partial solar eclipse on May 17, 1501. It contains hybrid eclipses on August 11, 1627, through to December 9, 1825; and total eclipses from December 21, 1843, through to March 26, 2601. The series ends at member 71 as a partial eclipse on July 3, 2763. Its eclipses are tabulated in three columns; every third eclipse in the same column is one exeligmos apart, so they all cast shadows over approximately the same parts of the Earth.
This eclipse was the first total solar eclipse visible from Canada since August 1, 2008, and from the provinces since February 26, 1979. It was the first over Mexico since July 11, 1991. It was also the first over the United States since August 21, 2017. This is the only solar eclipse in the 21st century with totality visible from all three countries. The next total solar eclipse in the US will be on March 30, 2033, which will pass over Alaska. The next total eclipse in the contiguous United States of the US will be on August 23, 2044. The next total eclipse of similar width will take place on August 12, 2045, which will traverse coast-to-coast in a trajectory similar to the 2017 eclipse.
The solar eclipse of June 13, 2132, will be the longest total solar eclipse since July 11, 1991, at 6 minutes, 55.02 seconds.
In the United States, totality was visible through the states of Texas (including parts of San Antonio, Austin, Fort Worth, and all of Arlington, Dallas, Killeen, Temple, Texarkana, Tyler, Sulphur Springs, and Waco); Oklahoma (including Idabel and Broken Bow); Arkansas (including Morrilton/Petit Jean, Hot Springs, Searcy, Jonesboro, and Little Rock); Missouri (including Cape Girardeau and Poplar Bluff); Tennessee (extreme northwestern corner of Lake County); Illinois (including Carbondale, where it intersected the path of the 2017 eclipse); Kentucky; Indiana (including Bloomington, Evansville, Indianapolis, Anderson, Muncie, Terre Haute, and Vincennes); Ohio (including Akron, Cleveland, Dayton, Lima, Lorain, Toledo, and Warren); Michigan (extreme southeastern corner of Monroe County); Pennsylvania (including Erie); Upstate New York (including Buffalo, Niagara Falls, Rochester, Syracuse, Watertown, the Adirondacks, Potsdam, and Plattsburgh); northern Vermont (including Burlington); New Hampshire; and Maine; with the line of totality going almost directly over the state's highest point Mount Katahdin. The largest city that was entirely in the path was Dallas, Texas. It was the second total eclipse visible from the central United States in just seven years, after the eclipse of August 21, 2017. It will be the last total solar eclipse visible in the contiguous United States until August 23, 2044.
The path of the April 8, 2024, eclipse crossed the path of the prior total solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 with the intersection of the two paths being in southern Illinois, in Makanda, just south of Carbondale.
The path of the April 8 eclipse also crossed the path of the annular solar eclipse that occurred less than 6 months prior, on October 14, 2023, intersecting in the vicinity of San Antonio, Texas.
Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders preemptively declared a state of emergency related to the eclipse, citing the expected increase of travel to the state which could result in transportation difficulties, such as in Fort Smith, where the police prepared for traffic congestion as hotels filled up. Bell County, Texas Judge David Blackburn preemptively declared a state of emergency in February 2024 due to the projected number of visitors to the area. The region surrounding Niagara Falls, Ontario, also declared a state of emergency; as an existing major tourist destination along the path of totality, it expected an influx of at least one million visitors on April 8.
The solar eclipse of April 8, 2024, also known as the Great North American Eclipse, was a total solar eclipse visible across a band covering parts of North America, from Mexico to Canada and crossing the contiguous United States. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby obscuring the Sun. A total solar eclipse occurs when the Moon's apparent diameter is larger than the Sun's, blocking all direct sunlight. Totality occurs only in a limited path across Earth's surface, with the partial solar eclipse visible over a larger surrounding region.
The partial eclipse was seen in Hawaii, eastern Kiribati (the eastern Phoenix Islands and the whole Line Islands), Tokelau, American Samoa except for its extreme western part, the Cook Islands, French Polynesia, and the Pitcairn Islands. Although all located east of the 180th meridian, the local time of the eclipse in Kiribati and Tokelau was Tuesday, April 9, 2024, because either UTC+13 or UTC+14 is observed in these areas.
An annular eclipse on October 2, 2024, will be the final solar eclipse of the year. The path of annularity will cross over Chile and Argentina.
The longest duration of totality will be produced by member 39 at 7 minutes, 29.22 seconds on July 16, 2186. After that date, the durations of totality will decrease until the series ends. This date is the longest solar eclipse computed between 4000 BC and AD 6000. Saros series eclipses occur during the Moon's ascending node (a term related to our equator and polar-naming conventions).