Total solar eclipse 2024 highlights: Rare phenomenon darkened North America’s skies

If you live in Australia, you’ve got a better-than-average chance of witnessing an eclipse over the next 16 years.

As this map shows, there will be four total solar eclipses that cross over Australia before 2040, with three of them also gracing New Zealand. In this same time period, not a single total eclipse crosses South America – though a fair few annular eclipses will.

The next total solar eclipse to cross the continental United States won’t take place until 12 August, 2045. But you don’t have to wait 21 years to watch one.

There will actually be an annular solar eclipse later this year in South America on 2 October, though it passes over far fewer people than yesterday’s event.

The next total eclipse will take place on 12 August, 2026, which Nasa says will be visible in Greenland, Iceland, Spain, Russia, and a small area of Portugal. A partial eclipse will be visible in Europe, Africa, North America, the Atlantic Ocean, Arctic Ocean, and Pacific Ocean.

This is the route it will take:

While Fox News blames the solar eclipse for increased cartel activity, a woman in Florida has claimed the celestial spectacle provoked a shooting spree along an interstate.

Taylon Nichelle Celestine, 22, of Georgia, was arrested and charged with attempted murder, aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and improper discharge of a firearm over the alleged random shooting rampage on Monday.

According to Highway Patrol, Ms Celestine had recently checked out of a local hotel and told staff that she was about to embark on a shooting spree, saying she had been directed by God in relation to the solar eclipse.

You can read the full story here:

The Sun’s path of totality during Monday’s solar eclipse passed right over Eagle Pass, a town on the US-Mexico border that has become a popular route for migrants in recent years.

This was apparently enough reason for Fox News to tie the eclipse to immigration, with anchor Dana Perino warning viewers that higher traffic could be “a real opportunity for smugglers and cartels and migrants to come right in”.

The Daily Show host Jon Stewart was quick to call out Fox News, saying on Monday’s show: “Is there nothing Fox can’t tie to immigration?”

He then envisioned the network delivering an even more bizarre scenario: “This year’s cicada infestation provides perfect cover for Venezuelans.”

Despite all the warnings about the risks of staring at the Sun without protection, Google Trends data shows that searches for ‘retina damage’, ‘eyes hurt’, ‘can’t see’, ‘blind’ and ‘eye damage’ all spiked in the hours after the eclipse.

Nasa warned ahead of the celestial event that the consequences could be severe for anyone not taking appropriate measures to protect their eyes.

“Except during the brief total phase of a total solar eclipse, when the Moon completely blocks the Sun’s bright face, it is not safe to look directly at the Sun without specialized eye protection for solar viewing,” the US space agency said.

“Viewing any part of the bright Sun through a camera lens, binoculars, or a telescope without a special-purpose solar filter secured over the front of the optics will instantly cause severe eye injury.”

You can read the full story here.

During yesterday’s eclipse, scientists in several parts of the US used various instruments to measure changes in the density of electrons in the Earth’s upper atmosphere.

The electron content in the ionosphere is a proxy for how ionised this layer is, which affects satellite transmissions crucial for such things as communication and navigation.

While the ionosphere electron levels were found to dip in some places as anticipated during the eclipse, it is essential to determine how waves in this outer atmosphere layer, generated during totality, propagated.

“We’ll look at how waves generated around the eclipse affect navigation systems and will directly image the eclipse in the ionosphere as it moves,” space weather researcher David Themens from the University of Birmingham, said.

Solar energy generation across many US states, including Texas and Florida briefly reduced during the total solar eclipse yesterday.

Texas is expected to have lost the most solar generating capacity as most of the state is on the path that will lose 90 per cent to 99 per cent of sunlight.

Electricity generators in affected areas increased output from other sources of electricity generation to supplement the decrease in solar power, according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA).

An increased demand from homes and businesses with rooftop solar during the eclipse was already anticipated.

“Even with the eclipse, we still expect solar power will be the third-largest contributor of electricity in the US on 8 April, behind natural gas and nuclear,” the EIA said.

Roads in many parts of the US experienced traffic jams and parking lots packed to full capacity as people flocked to see the total solar eclipse.

In Maine, for instance, officials said there were traffic delays round the state, with some roads seeing delays by as much as three hours.

Tens of thousands of visitors reportedly flocked in to see the cosmic spectacle in Maine – the last stop in the path of the eclipse before it headed into Canada.

Municipal garages in many parts of Burlington, Vermont were full more than four hours ahead of totality, NPR reported.

Visitors were reportedly coming into see the eclipse from across the world, including in 90 private planes.

Scientists in several parts of the US are conducting studies to better understand how yesterday’s total solar eclipse affected the planet.

Space physicist Darci Snowden from Central Washington University sent up balloons to capture data and better understand how weather changed during the eclipse.

Weather balloons capable of flying up to 33km (20m) were flown into the stratosphere, carrying battery-powered instruments for collecting data on temperature, humidity, pressure, as well as wind direction and speed.

A Nasa team also launched data-collecting jets above Earth’s atmosphere to learn more about the structure and temperature of the Sun’s outer atmosphere.

“The total solar eclipse is a really exciting way to engage the public in science while at the same time advancing our knowledge of the sun and its impacts on us here on Earth,” Colleen Hartman, director of the Space Studies Board of the National Academies, said.

Scientists at MIT’s Haystack Observatory are studying how the solar eclipse affected the topmost layers of the atmosphere, including its outermost ionosphere layer where many satellites orbit.

They hope to study how the ionosphere responds before, during, and after the eclipse, as the sun’s radiation suddenly dips.

Researchers also observed how animal behaviours changed when the eclipse passed over North America.

As the eclipse neared totality, many animals in the Columbus Zoo, including sloth bear, red pandas, reindeer, ostriches went to sleep as if it was nighttime.

“About seven minutes afterward, it started to lighten back up a little bit and they all stood up and they started grooming as though they were preparing for the day,” Shannon Borders, curator of the zoo’s Heart of Africa exhibit, told The Columbus Dispatch.

Observers in Fort Worth Zoo, Texas said some animals displaying curiosity and vigilance during the eclipse.

Animals including elephants, giraffes, bonobos, and gorillas at the zoo reportedly moved toward their barn doors, something they do at night.

Flamingos and penguins at the zoo formed a cluster before totality, while others birds began to get quieter, authorities said.

After Monday, North Americans will have to wait exactly 8 years, 11 months and 22 days to see another total solar eclipse.

A total solar eclipse visible from North America would occur next only on 30 March, 2033, according to Nasa.

People in Utqiagvik, Alaska – the most northerly settlement in the US – will be in the path of totatility.

Overall, in both Russia and the US, about 67,600 people are likely to be living in the path of totality during the 2033 eclipse.

In comparison, Monday’s eclipse was visible to over 40 million people.

After that, the next total solar eclipse covering North America is expected to be on 22 August, 2044.

During this eclipse, Calgary and Edmonton in Canada as well as Montana and North Dakota in the US, will get a view of the eclipsed Sun.

Then just under a year after that, on 12 August 2045, the US will have a coast-to-coast total solar eclipse with totality visible from northern California, Kansas, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Oklahoma, Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Florida.