Maine’s Total Solar Eclipse ‘Path of Totality’ Has Shifted

The current projections for April 8th’s Solar Eclipse are not what was originally expected.

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While this may sound like some late, lame April Fool’s joke, it’s not. This is reality and it’s really happening. Kind of.

The Total Solar Eclipse will have folks 'from away' traveling to Northern Maine on April 8th, 2024. It’s an occasion that has had people planning for years.

Maine hasn’t seen a Total Solar Eclipse like this since July 20th, 1963, and the next one in our state won’t be until 2079.

All of this being said, the 2024 Total Solar Eclipse is right around the corner, and folks will be flocking to our Pine Tree State to experience the absolutely unreal phenomenon, but not all of Maine is going to have the same experience. For more information on which Maine towns will have the longest eclipse totality, you can read more here.

According to John Irwin's analysis for Besselian Elements, a blog about solar eclipses, the path of the total solar eclipse on April 8th has been precisely determined.

This path is crucial for observers planning to witness the eclipse near its limits and experience unique edge effects. The eclipse centerline is marked in yellow on the map provided below, with orange lines showing the true limb eclipse limits. These limits, surrounded by error bars, indicate the range where totality will occur, offering a more accurate prediction than the traditional smooth limits.

Observers can expect true totality between the northern and southern orange lines on the map, representing the most likely limits of the eclipse. John Irwin's detailed calculations provide a reliable guide for those interested in experiencing the eclipse's maximum effects, assuming that we have favorable weather conditions. Knocking on wood.

Those within the center of the path of totality can expect to still experience the total eclipse. However, those on the northern and southern edges may now only experience a partial eclipse, according to the new map.

The closer we get to the eclipse, the more accurate the predictions get; that is what we can attribute to the shift.