TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE 2024: Monday's eclipse more significant than most, but not for Savannah

Monday's date of April 8, 2024 has been circled on the NASA calendar for quite a while now. And it's for good reason. The solar eclipse on Monday will be a "total solar eclipse," the last one that will be visible from the contiguous United States until the year 2044.

Teams at NASA have created an all-in-one website to cater to the curiosities of Americans as the rare event approaches. Find videos explaining key questions about the total solar eclipse and see inside NASA's plans to take advantage of an opportunity that hasn't happened in the United States since Feb. 26, 1979 at bottom of this story.

A total solar eclipse happens when the Moon passes between the Sun and Earth, completely blocking out the entirety of the face of the Sun. Locations where the Moon’s shadow completely covers the Sun are known as the path of totality. Along that path, people will be experiencing a total solar eclipse.
"The sky will darken, as if it were dawn or dusk," NASA says. "Weather permitting, people along the path of totality will see the Sun’s corona, or outer atmosphere, which is usually obscured by the bright face of the Sun."

In 2017, when a total eclipse of smaller magnitude passed the United States, the path of totality ranged from about 62 to 71 miles wide. During the April 8, 2024 eclipse, the path over North America will range between 108 and 122 miles wide – meaning at any given moment, the 2024 eclipse covers more ground.

It will begin over the South Pacific Ocean on Monday and, weather permitting, the first location in continental North America to experience totality will be Mexico’s Pacific coast. The path of totality is expected on the Mexican coast around 11:07 am PDT or 2:07 pm EDT on Monday.
WILL SAVANNAHIANS GET TO "SEE" IT?
Yes, but not in totality. NASA projects Savannah to experience a maximum of 69.4 percent totality, beginning at around 2:38 pm EDT and reaching its peak eclipse point at around 3:08 pm EDT.