Why To Stay Alive Until 2045 For The ‘Greatest American Eclipse’ Of The Century

15.04.2024 - 18:09 / forbes.com

The “Great North American Eclipse” is over—now prepare for the “Greatest American Eclipse.”

The 4 minutes 26 seconds of totality that was experienced during April 8’s total solar eclipse was the longest on land since 2010 anywhere in the world. Most totalities last about two minutes or so.

That makes the next coast-to-coast total solar eclipse in the U.S. special.

On August 12, 2045, a whopping 6 minutes and 4 seconds of totality will be possible from Florida—the nation’s “Greatest American Eclipse.”

It’s why you need to stay alive until 2045—and it’s the “best” eclipse on the celestial schedule for America’s “Generation Eclipse.”

A mighty 318 miles/256 kilometers wide on average, the path of totality on August 12, 2045, will stretch through 12 U.S. states:

After traveling through the U.S. the moon’s shadow will hit Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Guyana, French Guiana, Suriname and Brazil.

Rather like April 8's eclipse, the 2045 total solar eclipse will come to many large U.S. cities—Reno, Salt Lake City, Colorado Springs, Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Tallahassee, Tampa, Orlando, Fort Lauderdale and Miami.

Here are a few notable places to watch it from:

The path of totality in 2045 will cross the path of totality that occurred on April 8 in Arkansas and Oklahoma. Little Rock will see 5 minutes 42 seconds of totality just 21 years after seeing 2 minutes 20 seconds in 2024. Since a total solar eclipse usually only occurs in the same place every 366 years on average, it beats the odds. The two centerlines of the 2024 and 2045 eclipses cross in Ouachita National Forest, with other places to experience twin totalities including Smithville, Big Cedar, Hodgen and Page in Oklahoma and Mena, Hot Springs, Conway, Morrilton, Russellville, Clarksville, Heber Springs and Searcy in Arkansas.

Much like the 2024 total solar eclipse followed in 2017 in the U.S, the 2045 event will be followed less than seven years later by March 30, 2052. On that day, a 4-minute and 8-second totality will come to Texas, Louisiana, Florida, Georgia and South Carolina.

Although the total solar eclipse in 2045 is the next one in the U.S. to get excited by, it is not the next eclipse. In fact, on March 30, 2033, a total solar eclipse will come to Alaska (as well as to Siberia in Russia), with St. Lawrence Island, Barrow/Utqiagvik, Kotzebue and Nome the best places to be for a totality lasting up to 2 minutes 37 seconds. That time of year is also peak season for the aurora borealis, though finding a clear sky may be challenging.

The 2045 eclipse isn't even the next total solar eclipse in the contiguous U.S.—that honor goes to one on August 22, 2044, in Montana and the Dakotas (though the places to be will be Banff National Park, Jasper