<P> Some American scientists and interested amateurs who wanted to experience a total eclipse participated in a four - day Atlantic Ocean cruise to view the solar eclipse of July 10, 1972 as it passed near Nova Scotia . (This is referenced in the Carly Simon hit song "You're So Vain" in the lyric, "Then you flew your Lear Jet up to Nova Scotia to see the total eclipse of the Sun .") Organizers of the cruise advertised in astronomical journals and in planetarium announcements, emphasizing the rarity of the event . </P> <P> The August 2017 eclipse was the first with a path of totality crossing the Pacific and Atlantic coasts of the U.S. since 1918 . Also, its path of totality made landfall exclusively within the United States, making it the first such eclipse since the country's declaration of independence in 1776 . Prior to this, the path of totality of the eclipse of June 13, 1257, was the last to make landfall exclusively on lands currently part of the United States . </P> <P> The path of the 2017 eclipse crosses with the path of the upcoming total solar eclipse of April 8, 2024, with the intersection of the two paths being in southern Illinois in Makanda Township at Cedar Lake, just south of Carbondale . An area of about 9,000 square miles, including the cities of Makanda, Carbondale, Cape Girardeau, Missouri, and Paducah, Kentucky, will thus experience two total solar eclipses within a span of less than seven years . The cities of Benton, Carbondale, Chester, Harrisburg, Marion, and Metropolis in Illinois; Cape Girardeau, Farmington, and Perryville in Missouri, as well as Paducah, Kentucky, will also be in the path of the 2024 eclipse, thereby earning the distinction of witnessing two total solar eclipses in seven years . </P> <P> The solar eclipse of August 12, 2045 will have a very similar path of totality over the U.S. to the 2017 eclipse: about 400 km (250 mi) to the southwest, also crossing the Pacific and Atlantic coasts of the country; however, totality will be more than twice as long . </P>

When is there going to be an solar eclipse