There’s a whole lot of buildup for April 8’s total solar eclipse: people buying plane tickets to the path of totality, hotel rooms filling up and people renting out rooms in their homes to house the astrotourists who are there for the big moment. But how long is the big moment? What will even happen? You have questions, and we have answers.
How long will the solar eclipse last on April 8th?
There’s no easy answer since it depends on where you view the eclipse. It will last anywhere from one minute to close to five minutes, according to WGME. We hope you get the longest experience possible!
What are the five stages of a total eclipse?
First, there’s the time when you eat your special eclipse snacks. Just kidding! First is the partial eclipse, when the moon’s shadow becomes visible over the Sun’s disc. When it first touches, this is called “first contact.” You’ll start to watch the crescent-shaped shadow grow.
Second, the total eclipse begins: the moon almost completely covers the sun’s disc. During this, you may be able to see phenomena such as “Baily’s beads” and the “diamond ring,” which is called second contact.
Third, it’s totality! Or maximum eclipse: you can’t see any of the sun anymore, just its corona. It’s showtime and the most gasp-worthy part of the eclipse. The sky goes dark, the air chills and you’ll notice wildlife and birds quiet down. Everyone is aware that something special is going on, according to the Solar Eclipse Guide.
Fourth, the total eclipse ends as the moon’s shadow continues moving and the sun starts to reappear again. It’s the third contact.
Fifth, the partial eclipse ends. Bummer! The moon no longer has any overlapping of the disc and has disengaged from their aerial dance. When the crescent shadow is completely gone, that’s called fourth contact.
How many people will be watching?
An estimated 44 million people live in the path of totality, and we assume a fair percentage of these will step outside to watch this eclipse—plus all the visitors who are arriving for the event will swell the number. According to space.com, water covers so much of our planet that during most solar eclipses, the path of totality is usually lost to the seas and those on boats. But this one on April 8 has a path of totality that covers 15 U.S. states (see our list of which ones), parts of six Mexican states, and six Canadian provinces.
Tips for watching an eclipse
Make a party out of it! We all need celebration in our lives, and the beautiful coordination of the sun and moon is reason enough! And thankfully, we don’t believe the world is going to end like people of the past did. Of course, they didn’t have a ton of Time Out stories telling them it would happen. According to San Francisco’s Exploratorium, people thought an eclipse was a sign from an angry god who would make the sun abandon the earth forever—“eclipse” is Greek for “abandonment.”
Be prepared ahead of time with your special glasses. The only time it’s safe to look directly at the sun is when it’s completely blocked, at the exact moment that the moon obscures it and darkness descends. The rest of the time, you need to look through eclipse glasses. According to NASA, “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 wouldn’t want to injure your eyes for this sight! For other warnings that may not occur to you until you’re in the heat of the moment—such as “don’t watch and drive”—take a moment to read our “what you need to know” post now.
When should you step outside the house?
Well, hopefully, you’ll already be outside chatting with folks and appreciating the day. But if you really only have a few moments to dash outside and need to know when our post covers that. Basically, the eclipse will unfold at 15:42 UTC, which stands for Coordinated Universal Time (and we can see someone bad at acronym-making has created this doozy for us), so you will need to figure out what that means in your own timezone. Generally speaking, the path of totality enters Texas at 1:27pm local time and reaches Maine at 3:35pm local time.