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There will be several eclipses that pass over the US in the 21st century. This is only the first, but it has been a long time coming! If you miss this one, you will only need to wait seven years for another, it's true - but why wait?! And besides, the total eclipse in 2024 will also be visible from Mexico and Canada (in fact, Mexico is in many ways a better place to watch that one from!). So come on out for this one, and enjoy what will truly be considered "The Great American Eclipse!"





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Mid-August 2017 People from all over the world begin to converge on the United States. Except for people returning home, visiting family, or conducting business at what happens to be just exactly the right time in history, these will be people who make it a point to travel to wherever the Moon's shadow is going to touch the earth, and position themselves in a spot carefully chosen - sometimes years in advance - to ensure they see the sight.



These people will make contingency travel plans in case of last-minute clouds. These people will fill hotel rooms, sometimes inadvertently displacing locals from their homes as space gets harder to come by. These people will travel through miles of desert or forest or frozen wasteland, braving the harshest of conditions...for a short glimpse at the eclipsed Sun.



These people are coming to America, because for the first time in 26 years, a total solar eclipse will occur in our great country, and we will play host to the world's eclipse-chasers. For those of us who already live here, but have never seen an eclipse, this is the opportunity of a lifetime - to see the most beautiful thing on the planet, and maybe not even have to get on an airplane to get to it!









August 18, 2017 Almost everyone who plans to see the eclipse will be in position. Foreign visitors will be be wrapping up their sightseeing tours of our country, and getting to their selected viewing areas early to ensure that no travel glitches have an opportunity to deprive them of their true goal. Cities along the path who have decided to create official eclipse viewing areas will have their focus set to logistics, ensuring the comfort, enjoyment and safety of their guests. People who have converged on those sites to view the eclipse will begin the countdown to eclipse day, as final preparations are made to ensure that photography equipment, filters, chairs, tables, telescopes, TV monitors, webcast equipment, hats and sunscreen are all at the ready for the big day!



Last-minute weather forecasts are checked, and anyone with the slightest fear of clouds on eclipse day will invoke their travel contingencies. Weather monitoring will proceed around the clock, with live updates issued hourly so as to best prepare eclipse-chasers who will need to move at a moment's notice. Nothing will stand in the way of seeing the eclipse!



The party begins....









August 19-20, 2017 Last-minute arrivals will get in place, together with those who have had to fight their own travel glitches, and make alternate arrangements to get here. Some will have missed their pre-eclipse tours, but that's OK - as long as they're in the path by Sunday night, all is OK. The worry can then focus on equipment, mental preparedness, and weather.



Scientists and amateur photographers who will be recording the event go over their preparations one last time. Sequences of events and actions that have been planned years in advance, and practised countless times to ensure mastery, will be practised one last time. All batteries will be replaced with new ones. All film, batteries and memory cards will be double- and triple-checked. Everything will be set up, taped down, sealed against the dew, and put to bed for the last time. Tomorrow is the big day, and nothing can go wrong.









August 21, 2017 Eclipse Day! No human action can disrupt the incessant dance of the cosmos, and the Moon's shadow will not wait on you if you're not ready. Like a mindless juggernaut, it plows its way through space toward a collision course with Earth. As predicted by the astronomers decades in advance, the shadow arrives with perfect accuracy, and touches down in the north Pacific Ocean at 16:48:33 while totally eclipsed. This is a sight few people - even veteran eclipse chasers - have seen, and from what we hear, it is quite uncanny.)



A minute later, the entire shadow (the "umbral cone") will have made landfall - er, ocean-fall - and will be racing across the surface of the water at supersonic speed. Except for folks on ships at sea, and the occasional ocean-dwelling critter who dares to venture too near the surface, nothing sentient will note the passing of the umbra - until land gets in the way.



No human action can disrupt the incessant dance of the cosmos, and the Moon's shadow will not wait on you if you're not ready. Like a mindless juggernaut, it plows its way through space toward a collision course with Earth. As predicted by the astronomers decades in advance, the shadow arrives with perfect accuracy, and touches down in the north Pacific Ocean at 16:48:33 UT* , at local sunrise. (At that spot, the Sun will actually rise. This is a sight few people - even veteran eclipse chasers - have seen, and from what we hear, it is quite uncanny.)A minute later, the entire shadow (the "umbral cone") will have made landfall - er, ocean-fall - and will be racing across the surface of the water at supersonic speed. Except for folks on ships at sea, and the occasional ocean-dwelling critter who dares to venture too near the surface, nothing sentient will note the passing of the umbra - until land gets in the way.

MONTANA The first of the two states where no populated areas see the shadow. We're not kidding here - there are no roads, no towns, no named areas of any kind that will see totality. Only a tiny chip of a tiny fraction of a tiny part of the tiniest southwestern tip of the beard of Montana will see totality. No, not Monida, Lima, or Dell - we're talking much further southwest than that! Less than eight square miles of this monster state lie in the path. Only trees - and critters - will see this eclipse from here - UNLESS you happen to be an intrepid soul who wants to take on the challenge!



We've written a blog post about the total eclipse in Montana - check it out!



Everyone should still understand that totality DOES actually touch Montana! Eclipse calculations expert Xavier Jubier has also written a great piece about this (describing Montana's and Iowa's similar plights), and you can read it here: The eclipse "controversy" of Montana and Iowa!



NEBRASKA The eclipse path really shines in this great midwestern state, cutting across endless miles of prairie, lots of good-sized cities, and one more state capital! Take a long lunch hour, and see an eclipse! Alliance (2m30s at 11:49am) and Scottsbluff (1m43s at 11:48am) are the first larger cities to see the shadow, and North Platte (1m40s at 12:54pm CDT) hugs the southern edge. Folks there should hop up US83 to Stapleton, to get more than two and a half minutes!



Moving east, the shadow engulfs Hastings at 12:58pm (for 2m13s of totality), but Grand Island (22 more seconds!) is an even better place to be!



Omaha is not in the path! Get down to Lincoln, or better yet, farther south toward Beatrice (2m35s at 1:02pm), for a better show! THAT'S RIGHT - IN OMAHA, the eclipse will never be total for you! You will need to use your eclipse glasses for the entire partial eclipse!



And speaking of Lincoln, this second capital city in the path lies near its northern edge, so totality is shorter there - only 1m 25.5s (at 1:02pm) on the grounds of the beautiful State Capitol. The 50-yard-line at Husker stadium gets five seconds less time in the shadow, so you can see how important it is to get as far south as you can!



To give you an even better idea of how important your location is when you're this near the edge, you need look no further than the airport at Lincoln: Planes waiting to take off on the departure end of runway 17 (at the north end of the runway) will get only 1m7s of totality, while those at the south end of the runway (if traffic is departing on 35 that day) will get 18s more!!! Don't laugh - when you see the beauty of the eclipse, you will wish like anything that you had eighteen more seconds to see this most glorious sight!



The shadow leaves the capital, and the centerline then passes over Falls City at 1:04pm. The path's great trek through the Cornhusker State, after having travelled its entire length in only nineteen minutes(!), will be over at 1:07:50pm.



See eclipse information for all Nebraska cities and towns in the path of totality!



IOWA We list Iowa here, but only about 450 ACRES of the far southwestern tip of the state lies in the path. Not much totality here - Hamburg doesn't get any, and neither does any of I-29 in the state of Iowa. We wouldn't go here to see it unless you live here, and can't move south and west.



NOTE: Just because Iowa is listed here doesn't mean that if you're in Iowa, you should stay here to see the eclipse! No one actually LIVES in the small chip of the state that sees the shadow! Please don't think that if you live in Iowa, you'll see the total eclipse!



Though everyone should still understand that totality DOES actually touch Iowa! We've written a blog post about the total eclipse in Iowa, and you should read it!



And, eclipse calculations expert Xavier Jubier has written a great piece about this situation (describing Montana's and Iowa's similar plights), and you can read it here: The eclipse "controversy" of Montana and Iowa!



TENNESSEE Ah, Nashville. Home to the Grand Ol' Opry, and mecca for country crooners worldwide. But on this day, the great capital of Tennessee has a new claim to fame - a total eclipse! That's right - after blocking out the sun for the fine citizens of Clarksville (2m17s at 1:25pm - and don't forget about our soldiers at Fort Campbell!), Springfield (2m36s at 1:26pm), Portland (2m37s at 1:27), and Westmoreland (2m28 at 1:27), the shadow pays a visit to the crown jewel of Country! It could be better - Nashville lies close to the southern edge of the path, so it doesn't get as much totality as we'd like, but all the city limits, and most of the suburbs, will bask in the shadow! Residents of Franklin and Kingston Springs will be left out of totality, and Brentwood lies just inside the path, so people there should head northeast. But, on the grounds of the State Capitol in Nashville, people will see 1m54s of totality at 1:27pm - a very respectable eclipse! And, heading northeast to the grounds of the Grand Ol' Opry, folks along beautiful Briley Parkway will see 2m13s (also at 1:27)!! If you're in Lebanon, you can stay put, because you'll enjoy 2m24s of totality a minute later!



The rest areas on I-40, just west of the exit at Buffalo Valley, are right on the centerline, by the way!



Murfreesboro is yet another of those nice, big towns that lie right on the edge of the path. Sparta and Baxter lie right on the centerline, so you might want to head out there to see the show!



Crossville (2m31s at 1:31pm) is the last larger town the path hits within the Central Time Zone, and as the shadow hops the mighty Tennessee River, residents of Dayton will experience 2m21s at about the same time (except that there, it'll be 2:31pm!).



Residents of Cleveland, beware! Your town is right on the southern edge of the path, and you should consider hopping north to Athens or Sweetwater. (Here is our page for Cleveland, so you can see the path in relation to your town.) Residents of Chattanooga, ditto, except that if you stay put, there'll be no show at all for you! Got that? Chattanooga is not in the path, and neither is Knoxville! Well, the very far southern suburbs of Knoxville are, but you won't get much totality, and who wants that? I-75 south is your best friend - take advantage of it! Here is a little more detailed map of Knoxville. Everyone at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville should hold class a few miles farther south, and enjoy the eclipse!



IF YOU ARE IN MEMPHIS, the eclipse will never be total for you! You will need to use your eclipse glasses for the entire partial eclipse!



We'll talk about Gatlinburg and Great Smoky Mountains National Park down in the section on North Carolina, but for now, suffice it to say that Clingman's Dome would be a great place to see totality from!



See eclipse information for all Tennessee cities and towns in the path of totality!



GEORGIA We know, the path hits North Carolina next, but we felt like talking about Georgia first. Mainly, we wanted to say that Atlanta is not in the path of totality, and this is a huge shame. So many people will be at work, when they should have taken a long weekend, gotten themselves up north, and into the path! I-85 seems to be the best route here, to get people up into South Carolina where they can see the show. But there are lots of other options: I-75 way north, or US19 or US23 up into TN or NC, will get you there. Whatever you folks in Hot'Lanta do with yourselves on the big day, though, make the eclipse a part of it!



IF YOU STAY IN ATLANTA, the eclipse will never be total for you! You will need to use your eclipse glasses for the entire partial eclipse!



So, where to see the eclipse from the Peach State? Well, the centerline of the path just barely ticks the Northeastern corner of the state, and runs about 12 miles between the borders of TN and SC. Clayton (2m34s at 2:35:45pm) is a nice county seat close to the centerline, and would be a fine location to view the eclipse from! Toccoa (which sees only 2m2s of totality) is another place to consider, being a slightly bigger town. Don't think you're gonna see it from Athens, though, or Gainesville, or Augusta - this isn't your eclipse, guys! If you want to stay within Georgia to see the eclipse, we can also suggest Black Rock Mountain State Park! You'll see about 2m36s of totality there.



See eclipse information for all Georgia cities and towns in the path of totality!



NORTH CAROLINA Again, here is a state that will have only a fraction of its area hit by the shadow - but what an area! The Great Smoky Mountains National Park, or at least the western part of it, lies in the path of totality! If you can't get to the Tetons, here is perhaps just as wonderful a spot to watch the eclipse from! But you have to be careful here - the whole park is not in totality, and the park is so big, that it really depends on where you are as to how much time you'll get in the shadow! We already talked about Knoxville not getting totality - well, Gatlinburg is outside the path completely! In fact, if you're east of that big north-south road that cuts the park in two (is it 441 or 71?), then you won't see any totality at all. Get as far west as you can, out to the mountains in the western part of the park. On the southern edge, Waynesville is a no-no - get farther west to Bryson City or even farther west to Santeetlah Lake. You get the idea.



If National Parks and eclipse-watching don't go together for you, then you can also see totality in Murphy (2m26s at 2:34pm), Andrews (2m38s at 2:34pm), or Franklin (2m30s at 2:35). Other than that, all we can say is that Charlotte is not in the path! Get into SC, down to Greenville or Columbia!



Oh yes, Asheville is also not in the path!



So IF YOU ARE IN CHARLOTTE OR ASHEVILLE, the eclipse will never be total for you! You will need to use your eclipse glasses for the entire partial eclipse!



See eclipse information for all North Carolina cities and towns in the path of totality!







