Best places to see the 2024 Great American Eclipse and 2023 ‘ring of fire’
- April 8, 2024 will see a Great American total solar eclipse that promises to be even bigger and better than the one that took place in 2017
- Remarkably, it comes with a warm-up – on October 14, an annular solar eclipse, causing a ‘ring of fire’, will be visible from across the southwest US
“Pull over, it’s about to start!”
With the camper van stationary on the side of Wyoming’s remote Highway 26, I jump out into the dust and thrust a pair of eclipse glasses into my wife’s hands.
“It’s already taken a really big bite,” I say, as I check the progress of the moon across the sun. We have driven 80 miles (130km) since breakfast to escape clouds and are now under a clear sky.
The sun is shrinking rapidly. The light fades and the crickets begin to hum ever louder. A cool breeze wafts across us and my heart beats faster. I’ve read about what we are about to experience and have imagined many times being in just the right place at the right time.
Totality is coming.
The shadow of the moon arrives and a strange silvery twilight suddenly takes hold. The sun is now just a couple of shrinking beads.
