Enjoy the Solar Eclipses in the TX Hill Country!Get Ready for two total Solar Eclipses Coming to the US in 2023 & 2024IT'S NOT TOO EARLY TO START PLANNING FOR THE TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSESOn October 14, 2023, an annular solar eclipse will begin over the Pacific Ocean and will reach the USA at Oregon. After passing through California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico, the path of annular solar eclipse will bisect Texas. Show
In 2024, locations in Texas that fall within the path will experience totality for two minutes to nearly five minutes. According to NationalEclipse.com, "The centerline of the eclipse enters Texas, and the U.S., as it crosses the Rio Grande River at the Mexico-U.S. border at approximately 12:10pm CDT, with totality beginning in that location at about 1:27pm CDT. As it exits Mexico and enters the U.S., traveling through the Texas Hill Country, the eclipse will have already reached its "point of greatest duration," that singular spot along every total solar eclipse centerline where the duration of totality is longer than anywhere else. That point is also the duration of totality "tipping point," meaning that the duration gradually increases along the centerline up until that point and then starts to decrease on the other side. In other words, for the 2024 eclipse, the duration of totality is all downhill in the U.S., with the longest durations in Texas and the shortest in Maine. Therefore, the path of totality in Texas will be considered a prime viewing destination on April 8. And since the point of greatest duration in Mexico is only a little more than 300 miles to the south of where the path of totality enters the U.S., the duration of totality on the centerline will only be a few seconds short of the eclipse maximum of 4 minutes and 28 seconds even a couple of hundred miles north of the border. If the longest durations of totality in the U.S. wasn't enough, Texas is also widely considered to have the best eclipse-day weather prospects in the country. More specifically, eclipse weather forecasting site eclipsophile.com points out that, in Texas, "the north [or west] side of the track has a notably sunnier April climate than the south [or east]." In general, the farther south you are for this eclipse, the better your weather odds. And you can't get any farther south along the path of totality in the U.S. than Texas."
Saturday, October 14, 2023: Mark Your Calendar!A total solar eclipse crossed the continental United States from coast to coast on August 21, 2017. Some 20 million people saw the Moon completely cover the Sun within a narrow path from Oregon to South Carolina, and hundreds of millions more across all of North America and northern South America saw a partial solar eclipse that day. On October 14, 2023, the Moon will again pass directly between Earth and the Sun — but this time it will not quite completely cover the solar disk, instead turning it into a thin "ring of fire." This annular (Latin for ring-shaped) eclipse will be visible within a roughly 125-mile-wide path from Oregon to Texas and on into Mexico, Central America, and South America. Again, North Americans outside the path will be treated to a partial solar eclipse if the weather cooperates.  The annular solar eclipse of February 26, 2017, photographed from Patagonia, South America. The sequence goes from left to right, with the Moon moving from upper left to lower right. For this eclipse the Moon covered about 98% of the Sun's bright face, leaving only a very thin "ring of fire" still shining. During the October 14, 2023, annular eclipse the ring will be fatter, as the Moon will cover only about 90% of the Sun. Courtesy Jay M. Pasachoff and Christian Lockwood. As explained in "How & Why Solar Eclipses Happen," by a cosmic coincidence the Sun and the Moon appear nearly the same size in our sky. The Sun's diameter is really about 400 times bigger than the Moon's, but the Sun is also about 400 times farther away than the Moon. Because Earth's orbit around the Sun and the Moon's orbit around Earth are both ellipses, not perfect circles, the apparent sizes of the Sun and Moon vary a little during the year (Sun) and during each month (Moon). Our planet is closest to the Sun (perihelion) in early January and farthest (aphelion) in early July, and the Sun appears about 3% wider in January than in July (not that you’d notice). When the Moon is closest to Earth (perigee), its apparent diameter is 11% larger than when it’s farthest (apogee); again, this effect is not too noticeable. When near perigee, the Moon can easily cover the entire solar disk and create a total solar eclipse. But near apogee the Moon is too small to cover all of the Sun's brilliant face. At mideclipse an annulus (ring) of brilliant sunlight surrounds the lunar silhouette, resulting in an annular eclipse. Like the total phase of a total solar eclipse, the annular phase of an annular eclipse is visible only within a narrow path across Earth's surface. Outside that path, observers under clear skies will see a partial eclipse instead. With the path of the October 14, 2023, annular eclipse stretching from Oregon to Texas before heading out into the Gulf of Mexico, where should you plan to rendezvous with the Moon's shadow if you wish to stay in the United States? Most eclipse aficionados go where the weather prospects are most favorable. For this eclipse, as shown in the graphic below, that's parts of Utah, New Mexico, and Texas. (As it turns out, the weather prospects in Mexico's Yucatán peninsula, Central America, and South America are generally less favorable than in the U.S., so staying in the U.S. is a good idea.) This graph shows the average October cloud cover (2000-2018) from satellite measurements at 10:30 am local time along the centerline of the October 14, 2023, annular eclipse track. Units are fractional sky cover, which can be interpreted as percent cloud cover. Courtesy Jay Anderson, Eclipsophile.com. Depending on your location within the path of annularity, the "ring of fire" effect in the U.S. will last up to 5 minutes. Since there will still be plenty of the Sun's bright face showing, it is absolutely essential throughout the entire eclipse to view through a safe solar filter, that is, one that meets the transmission requirements of the ISO 12312-2 international standard. Such filters are widely available and cost at most a few dollars. Looking at the uneclipsed or partially (or annularly) eclipsed Sun through dark sunglasses or any other unapproved filter is a recipe for serious and potentially permanent eye injury. See our Eye Safety and Resources pages for details. More Information About the Solar Eclipse of October 14, 2023
Where is the best place to see the 2024 eclipse in Texas?In 2024, people watching the eclipse from Eagle Pass, Texas, located along the U.S.-Mexico border, will experience 4 minutes and 26 seconds of totality.
What is the path of the 2023 solar eclipse?On Oct. 14, 2023, an annular solar eclipse will cross North, Central, and South America. Visible in parts of the United States, Mexico, and many countries in South and Central America, millions of people in the Western Hemisphere can experience this eclipse.
Where is the best place to see the 2023 eclipse?San Antonio and Corpus Christi, Texas
San Antonio is the biggest city in the path of the 2023 solar eclipse with the entire event visible from the city and many of its suburbs.
Where is the next solar eclipse in Texas?On April 8, 2024, North America will be treated to one of the most amazing sights of a lifetime: a Total Solar Eclipse. Waco, Texas, will be right in the path of the eclipse and will offer a celestial show you won't want to miss.
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