AP PHOTOS: Total solar eclipses through the decades
Crowds gather on the top deck of New York’s Empire State Building to view a solar eclipse on Aug. 31, 1932, that was fully blocked in parts of Canada and New England. (AP Photo, File)
It’s spellbinding not only for the lucky ones in the path of total darkness, but also those on the fringes of the moon’s shadow getting a partial glimpse.
Day will turn into night as the moon perfectly positions itself between Earth and the sun on April 8, temporarily blocking the sunlight. The eclipse will begin in the Pacific, cross into Mexico and then cut through Texas on a northeasterly path through 15 states before heading out over Canada and the North Atlantic.
Totality will last up to 4 minutes, 28 seconds — enough time for the wonder of it all to soak in, weather permitting.
The progression of a total solar eclipse is seen in a multiple exposure photograph taken in 5-minute intervals from Siem Reap, Cambodia, on Oct. 24, 1995. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel, File)
“The sight of a total solar eclipse is stunning because the most beautiful celestial object — the sun’s corona — is hidden from us all our lives except for the precious moments of totality,” eclipse mapmaker Michael Zeiler said in an email.
Even scientists like NASA’s Kelly Korreck find themselves in awe.
“There might have been tears of joy the first time,” she said. “To actually experience it was just really a powerful, moving experience.”
While full solar eclipses happen every year or two or three, they’re often in remote locations like the Arctic or Antarctica, the southern tip of South America or the Pacific.
The last time totality crisscrossed the U.S. was in 2017, with totality lasting 2 1/2 minutes. After April, it won’t happen again until 2045, but get set for six full minutes of totality.
Images of the crescent-shaped sun are projected on a sidewalk as light passes through the leaves of a tree during a partial solar eclipse in Oklahoma City on Aug. 21, 2017. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki, File)
A total solar eclipse is observed above the mountainous Siberian Altai region on Friday, Aug. 1, 2008. (AP Photo/Oleg Romanov, File)
Steve Spalding squints through a viewfinder during a total solar eclipse in Valdosta, Ga., on March 7, 1970, that was shrouded by clouds. (AP Photo/Joe Holloway Jr., File)
Members of the British Astronomers Association set up their telescopes at a campsite near Truro, England, on Aug. 10, 1999, preparing for a total solar eclipse the next day. (AP Photo/Dave Caulkin, File)
The sun sets over Hyderabad, India, during the final phases of the last total solar eclipse of the millennium on Aug. 11, 1999. (AP Photo/P Anil Kumar, File)
Shepherd Heinz Greiner watches the beginning of a total solar eclipse near Augsburg, Germany, on Aug. 11, 1999. (AP Photo/Frank Boxler, File)
Lucy Maphiri, left, and Margaret Makuya watch the total solar eclipse over Shingwedzi camp in South Africa’s Kruger National Park on Dec. 4, 2002. (AP Photo/Jon Hrusa, File)
Thousands of tourists gather to view a total solar eclipse in front of Apollo Temple in the Mediterranean coastal resort of Side, Turkey on March 29, 2006. (AP Photo/Burhan Ozbilici, File)
A young shepherd carries a goat as he watches a partial solar eclipse in the village of Bqosta, near Sidon, Lebanon, on March 29, 2006. AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari, File)
A man watches a partial solar eclipse through a strip of film in Kyiv, Ukraine, on March 29, 2006. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File)
A group of schoolchildren don special glasses during a total solar eclipse in Accra, Ghana, on March 29, 2006. (AP Photo/Olivier Asselin, File)
A child looks through protective glasses as a projection of the sun is displayed on a card during a total solar eclipse seen near the Bulgaria’s Black Sea town of Varna on Aug. 1, 2008. (AP Photo/Petar Petrov, File)
Dang Anh Tuan shows a projected image of a solar eclipse at an observatory in Hanoi, Vietnam, Wednesday on July 22, 2009. (AP Photo/Chitose Suzuki, File)
A total solar eclipse appears above giant Moai statues on Easter Island on July 11, 2010. (AP Photo/Patricio Munoz, File)
A total solar eclipse is seen from an aircraft over Patna, India, on July 22, 2009. (AP Photo/Shreya Sahai, File)
The moon starts to block the sun during a total solar eclipse seen through a cloud, in Skopje, Macedonia, on March 20, 2015. (AP Photo/Boris Grdanoski, File)
People watch in darkness during the totality phase of a total solar eclipse on the Faeroe Islands on March 20, 2015. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham, File)
People gaze at the total solar eclipse from Svalbard, Norway on March 20, 2015. (Haakon Mosvold Larsen/NTB Scanpix via AP, File)
This multiple exposure photograph shows the progression of a partial solar eclipse over the Gateway Arch in St. Louis on Aug. 21, 2017. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson, File)
A man wears protective glasses to view a partial solar eclipse as people gather near the Sphinx at the Giza Pyramids on the outskirts of Cairo, Egypt, on March 20, 2015. (AP Photo/Khaled Kamel, File)
A man watches a solar eclipse through an X-ray film in Jakarta, Indonesia, on March 9, 2016. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara, File)
A crowd in New York reacts to the view of a partial solar eclipse on Aug. 21, 201. (AP Photo/Michael Noble Jr., File)
Using a welder's mask as protection, a man views a total solar eclipse in Piedra del Aguila, Argentina, on Dec. 14, 2020. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko, File)
The International Space Station is silhouetted against the sun during a total solar eclipse on Aug. 21, 2017, as seen from Northern Cascades National Park in Washington state. (Bill Ingalls/NASA via AP, File)
A youth dressed as a shaman arrives to take part in a photo session before the total solar eclipse in La Higuera, Chile, on July 1, 2019. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix, File)
The moon passes in front of the setting sun during a total solar eclipse in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on July 2, 2019. (AP Photo/Marcos Brindicci, File)
A total solar eclipse is barely visible through the clouds in Carahue, Chile, on Dec. 14, 2020. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix, File)
Spectators enjoy a view of a total solar eclipse from La Higuera, Chile, on July 2, 2019. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix, File)
Magdalena Nahuelpan, of the Mapuche group, looks at a total solar eclipse through special glasses in Carahue, Chile, on Dec. 14, 2020. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix, File)
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The selection was curated by AP photo editor Patrick Sison in New York. To see more of AP’s vast photo archive from around the world, visit AP Newsroom.
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