Solar Eclipse 2024
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Witness the 2024 Solar Eclipse in Grand Prairie
On April 8, 2024, the second total solar eclipse in the U.S. in less than seven years will travel up through the country from Texas to Maine and Grand Prairie happens to be in the center of the path of totality. The 2024 eclipse promises to be even more spectacular than the historic 2017 eclipse, crossing over or coming close to more major cities and with a maximum duration of totality that's almost two minutes longer!
Grand Prairie, Texas will be in totality at approximately 1:42 p.m. CDT.
It will last 3 minutes and 35 seconds.
What is an Eclipse?
A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes directly between the Earth and the Sun and the Moon blocks the Sun for a viewer on Earth. During a total eclipse, the Moon lines up perfectly to fully obscure the Sun, resulting in "totality"; in a partial eclipse, the Moon and the Sun are not perfectly aligned and only part of the Sun is blocked; and during an annular eclipse, alignment is perfect but the Moon is too far away from the Earth to completely obscure the Sun. The fact that a total solar eclipse is visible from Earth only along a very narrow path for just a few short minutes makes totality one of nature's rarest events.
What to expect
Most people who have seen a total eclipse have described it as the most spectacular natural event they have ever witnessed. It starts as the Moon slowly obscures more and more of the Sun. As the eclipse deepens, the world around you takes on a strange tint and shadows become sharp and detailed. When just a thin crescent of light can be seen through your eclipse glasses, daylight begins to fade and rippling "shadow bands" might be seen on the ground. And then "totality," as the soft wisps of the solar corona surround a huge hole where the Sun used to be. You might notice a temperature drop and birds flying home to their nests. You're standing in a strange twilight, while a "sunset" glows all around you. Finally, totality comes to an end and the events occur in reverse order
More information on The Solar Eclipse 2024 at nationaleclipse.com