“Eclipse Across America” will air live Monday, April 8, beginning at 2 p.m. ET on ABC, ABC News Live, National Geographic Channel, Nat Geo WILD, Disney+ and Hulu as well as network social media platforms.
If experiencing totality during the April 8 total solar eclipse makes you hungry for another celestial spectacle, you may have to wait decades.
“Solar eclipses are sort of like potato chips — once you eat one, you want another one,” Fred Espenak, a former astrophysicist from NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and author of “Road Atlas for the Total Solar Eclipse of 2024,” told ABC News.
“Every eclipse is unique and exciting,” Espenak continued. “I would say it’s the most spectacular, natural phenomenon that you can see with the naked eye.”
A partial lunar eclipse, Oct. 29, 2023, in Mumbai.
Anshuman Poyrekar/Hindustan Times via Getty Images
On Monday, the total solar eclipse plunged a path through the contiguous United States into an eerie twilight showcasing the sun’s corona and the atmosphere’s array of stars as the moon passed in front of the sun.
For the 31 million Americans who live inside the eclipse’s path of totality, the experience was brought right to their doorstep, while millions of other eclipse chasers traveled to the 115-mile-wide path for the historic day.
“Many people will definitely get the bug and join the cohort of eclipse chasers, who go to any reasonable means of traveling around the world to see nature’s most dramatic sight,” Michael Zeiler, expert solar eclipse cartographer and founder of Greatamericaneclipse.com, told ABC News.
Next total solar eclipse in the U.S. after 2024
The next total solar eclipse to occur in the contiguous U.S. won’t be until Aug. 23, 2044, and will only shadow three states in its path, Montana and North and South Dakota, according to NASA.
A solar eclipse over the sky of Planetarium of Bogota, Columbia, Oct. 14, 2023.
Diego Cuevas/Getty Images
In Canada, British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan will also experience totality, according to the agency.
Next coast-to-coast total solar eclipse
The next year, on Aug. 12, 2045, a total solar eclipse will span coast to coast, according to NASA.
The far-reaching path of totality will cover parts of California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas, Arkansas, Missouri, Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, Florida and Georgia, the agency reports.
A solar eclipse is seen from the Luis Enrique Erro Planetarium of the National Polytechnic Institute in Mexico City, Oct. 14, 2023.
Luis Barron/Eyepix Group/Future Publishing via Getty Images
Similar to the total solar eclipse in 2017, the 2045 eclipse offers a chance for many Americans to experience totality within their states.
Related Stories
Adding to the decades-away excitement, since the 2044 and 2045 eclipses are slated for August, the summer season increases the likelihood of clear, cloudless skies during the event.
Next total solar eclipse internationally
If you can’t wait two decades for the next chance to experience totality, another total solar eclipse will take place in Europe in 2026.
On Aug. 12, 2026, a total solar eclipse is set to sweep over the Arctic Ocean, Greenland, Iceland, Atlantic Ocean, Portugal and northern Spain, according to the National Solar Observatory.
“Witnessing a total solar eclipse is a deeply emotional experience for anyone,” Zeiler said. “And the first question you may ask after the eclipse is: When is the next one? And you may want to go see the very next eclipse in Spain in 2026.”
