Just as the total eclipse of the Sun crossed the United States in 2017, affording some 200 million Americans a memorable event, a reprise in 2024 will begin in the South Pacific and be visible, where the skies are clear, over most of North America, passing over Mexico, the United States, and Canada. These inspired astronomical historian and eclipse enthusiast Thomas Hockey to compile this history of trans-American total eclipses, concentrating on the eclipses of 1869 and 1878, the first to occur in totality over significant portions of the United States.
“The amazing thing about 2024 is that those sitting under the darkness created by the Moon will include citizens of major cities such as Mazatlán, Durango, Austin, Waco, Dallas, Fort Worth, Hot Springs, Little Rock, Carbondale, Terre Haute, Bloomington, Indianapolis, Dayton, Lima, Toledo, Cleveland, Akron, Erie, Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Montréal, Montpellier, and Presque Isle,” Hockey points out. “It is all but guaranteed that the 2024 total solar eclipse will be experienced by more North Americans than that of 1869, more of us than during any other total eclipse, and perhaps more people than any single such eclipse ever.”
