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Thetotal solar occultation on April 8 in North America amount six years , seven months and 18 days after the last effect interbreed the continent in 2017 . Although these eclipses ' narrowpaths of totalityare very dissimilar , both their course sweep parts of Missouri , Illinois and Kentucky .
So how often do totalsolar eclipsesoccur ? Turns out , while these two events are skinny together , it is rare to experience sum in the same place twice in such a scant time . According to a paperpublishedin 1982 by Belgian astronomer Jean Meeus , a totalsolar eclipseoccurs in the same place on the major planet once every 375 years , on average . NASA’sErnie Wrightrecentlyrefinedthat build to 366 years after mapping the 11,898 paths of every full solar eclipse across a 5,000 - twelvemonth period from 2,000 B.C. to A.D. 3,000 .
Solar eclipse in four stages.
However , full solar eclipses are not rarefied on a planet - wide scale . A solar occultation of some kind occur on Earth between two and five sentence each year , though most years have two occultation , according toTimeanddate . On fair , a total solar eclipse happens every 18 calendar month , but there ’s often just less than a twelvemonth between them . For exercise , the lasttotal solar occultation was on April 20 , 2023 , andthe next is on April 8 , 2024 . That gap is the same as a lunar year — 12 orbits of Earth by the moon ( a lunation ) — and is the shortest metre possible between two entire solar eclipse , with one exclusion .
According toEclipseWise , the prison term interval between two consecutive solar eclipses can be either one , five or six lunar month , but they are usually different type of issue .
April 8 total solar occultation : The best places to daydream near the path of total
— April 8 solar occultation : 4 telescopes and lookout where you’re able to look on totality
— These eclipse - theme places will experience totality on April 8 , 2024
— Total solar occultation April 2024 : The 10 biggest cities within the path of sum
For example , a total eclipse — when the moon totally freeze the sunlight — could be come after by an doughnut-shaped occultation — when the lunar month pass between the sunshine and Earth while it is at its farthest compass point from our planet , meaning it does n’t completely obscure the sun — or a fond eclipse , in which the moon covers a portion of the Lord’s Day . However , it is possible that a total eclipse can be followed six lunations later by what ’s called atotal - annular ( or hybrid ) solar eclipse , which does admit a scant totality , Luca Quaglia , an occultation expert , told Live Science in an e-mail . If the paths of a hybrid and a entire eclipse cross , some locations could know totality twice in six months .
What ’s most important for skywatchers , however , is when the next total solar eclipse is . Here ’s what’scoming up in the decadefollowing April 8 , accord to eclipse cartographerXavier Jubier :
