The Longest Solar Eclipse in the 21st Century

Graphic Courtesy NASA Goldstone Spaceflight Center Eclipse Page


At 6 minutes 39 seconds duration, yesterday's Total Solar Eclipse in Asia is the longest in the 21st Century, not to be surpassed until June 13, 2132 in Latin America. Indeed, the latter half of the 22nd Century will see four total solar eclipses exceeding 7 minutes in duration, all but one occuring in Asia or the Pacific region.

Here are some videos of the solar eclipse that have been uploaded so far...

This one has been set to Jean Michel Jarre.

This one has been swiped from the NASA video feeds and sufficiently ethereal music added.

The next total solar eclipse to occur in western North Carolina, and a huge swath of the USA, will be on Monday, August 21, 2017. The path of totality will run through Macon County. I am currently evaluating several sites from which to observe the event.

Here are a couple of graphics to give you an idea of the 2017 eclipse, the first being an animation of the path of totality across the USA, and the second a Google Map mashup of the path in western North Carolina:

Animation courtesy of Andrew Sinclair




Path of Totality in WNC