So When’s The Next Total Eclipse of the Sun?
Alright, quick show of hands, who was disappointed when storm clouds rolled in at the worst possible moment to completely obstruct our view of this once in a lifetime celestial event? OK... quick count, one, two, threefourfivesix everyone. Yep, everybody was disappointed. It's like the clouds took the form of a middle finger and pointed it directly at us.
Luckily today's Total Eclipse of the Sun was not QUITE as once in a lifetime as "You'll be dead for the next one." I mean, I don't want to say you won't be dead, a lot can happen in seven years, but yeah, the next one is only seven years from now. Six years, eight months to be precise, April 8th of 2024. It draws a nice big X across the united states when paired with today's eclipse, with the epicenter located squarely on Carbondale here in the great state of Illinois. WAIT! Space objects drawing an X on the United States.... there is some serious space pirate treasure buried in Carbondale. I should go price shovels at the Home Depot...
Anyway, we'll actually have a few more between now and the turn of the next century, in addition to the 2024 Total Eclipse, we'll see full coverage of the sun in 2045, 2052, 2078, and 2099, according to Great American Eclipse.
If you just like one thing blocking your view of another thing, there's a Total Lunar Eclipse next January, but that's mostly over East Asia and Australia and will only partially be visible in North America. We'll have to wait until January 2019 for a full one over our skies.
Now if you'll excuse me, I have some space pirate treasure to find.