Solar eclipse Across the United States in 2017!

  • Posted on: 31 August 2015
  • By: Jay Oyster

Screen capture of a part of the NASA/Google Map image of the 2017 eclipse pathI'm sure those who are  more active in astronomical things were well aware of this for a long time, but I just became aware that there is a massive total solar eclipse that will cross the entire United States in August of 2017. And more importantly from my perspective is that it will actually cross part of Georgia, so I can drag my kids and wife out to see it! 

The American Astronomical Society has a landing page covering the eclipse and their efforts to promote its viewing. That can be found at: aas.org/education/outreach/eclipse-2017.

The AAS also points to a great page that NASA has created using Google Maps to show the path of totality as well as the lines for the outer edges of partiality all across the U.S. It's a great interactive tool. For example, in the screen capture at right, I zoomed in to show how the path crosses the northeast corner of Georgia. Clicking on any point in the map shows a popup of the eclipse conditions visible at that location. As an example, I clicked on a spot right on the central path line.

I know some people travel half way around the world, taking long trips on boats in the southern Indian Ocean just to see a total eclipse, so I would think it personally irresponsible of me to miss this chance. I'm not sure where we'll go to view it yet, but I've already informed my wife that we must be there.