Just one week until the second Great American Eclipse

The sun is about to pull another disappearing act across North America, turning day into night during a total solar eclipse.

The peak spectacle one week from now on April 8 will last up to 4 minutes, 28 seconds in the path of total darkness — twice as long as the total solar eclipse that dimmed U.S. skies in 2017.

This eclipse will take a different and more populated route, entering over Mexico’s Pacific coast, dashing up through Texas and Oklahoma, crisscrossing Illinois, Indiana and Ohio, then the mid-Atlantic and New England, before exiting over eastern Canada into the Atlantic.

Aside from a tiny square from Paducah, Kentucky, to Carbondale, Illinois, in the crosshairs of both the 2017 and 2024 eclipses, it usually takes 400 to 1,000 years before totality returns to the same spot. There won’t be another U.S. eclipse, spanning coast to coast, until 2045. That one will stretch from Northern California all the way to Cape Canaveral, Florida.

An estimated 44 million people live inside the 115-mile-wide path of totality stretching from Mexico to Newfoundland; about 32 million of them are in the U.S. Over half the nation's population lives within 250 miles of totality, guaranteeing jammed roads for the must-see celestial sensation.

The moon will line up perfectly between the Earth and the sun, blotting out the sunlight. It will slice a diagonal line from the southwest to the northeast across North America, briefly plunging communities along the track into darkness.

Fifteen U.S. states will get a piece of the action, albeit two of them — Tennessee and Michigan — just barely.

Among the cities smack dab in the action: Dallas; Little Rock; Indianapolis, Cleveland; Buffalo; and Montreal — making for the continent’s biggest eclipse crowd.

Practically everyone on the continent can catch at least a partial eclipse. The farther from the path of totality, the smaller the moon’s bite will be out of the sun. In Seattle and Portland, Oregon, about as far away as you can get in the continental U.S., one-third of the sun will be swallowed.

By a cosmic stroke of luck, the moon will make the month’s closest approach to Earth the day before the total solar eclipse. That puts the moon just 223,000 miles away on eclipse day. The moon will appear slightly bigger in the sky thanks to that proximity, resulting in an especially long period of sun-blocked darkness.

As the eclipse unfolds, NASA will launch small rockets with science instruments into the upper atmosphere from Virginia and chase totality’s shadow from high-altitude planes. Satellites and the International Space Station crew will attempt to capture the show from space.

Special eclipse glasses are crucial for safely observing the sun as the moon marches across the late morning and afternoon sky, covering more and more and then less and less of our star.

During totality when the sun is completely shrouded, it’s fine to remove your glasses and look with your naked eyes. But before and after, certified eclipse glasses are essential to avoid eye damage. Just make sure they’re not scratched or torn.

Cameras, binoculars and telescopes must be outfitted with special solar filters for safe viewing. Never look at an exposed sun without proper protection any day of the year.



A crowd wears protective glasses at a viewing party in Oregon in 2017. (AP Photo Don Ryan)