Once* in a lifetime!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_solar_eclipses_in_the_21st_century
Not a lot of TOTAL eclipses. And the next US total is 20 years.
Unless you can afford to fly (and stay) internationally, it might very well be once in a lifetime to witness totality.
- South East Asia here, no total eclipse for the next 200 years. And I slept through the last one when I was in middle school, FML.
  
  2035 is reasonably promising, depending on where you are
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_eclipse_of_September_2,_2035
  
  There are two crossing through eastern Australia in the next decade, maybe take a trip there?
- We aren't sure yet, but we are likely the only place in the galaxy that has the perfect total eclipses. If humanity ever manages to unite and take to the stars, there's a strong argument to be made for our flag to just be a black field with a solar corona. We may even have to worry about too much extra-terrestrial eclipse tourism.
  Solar eclipses on Mars are underwhelming.
  
  I can see eclipses being an interstellar tourist attraction.
  
  We aren’t sure yet, but we are likely the only place in the galaxy that has the perfect total eclipses.
  I'm frankly dubious about this - tons of extrasolar planets will have moons, and those moons will occlude their stars. what in any way makes earth special? citation requested.
  
  Source?
  It looks like you would get a perfect solar eclipse on Mars if Pandora were spherical.
  https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamiecartereurope/2018/08/10/earth-is-not-the-only-planet-in-the-solar-system-that-gets-total-solar-eclipses/
  If there's another planet in our solar system where you can almost get an earth-like "perfect" solar eclipse, I find it highly unlikely that there isn't a single other planet in our entire galaxy where one might also see a "perfect" solar eclipse.
- It's also massively over hyped imo. I did the last one and the coolest part was the shadows, but the actual darkness was super underwhelming. Hearing everyone say it was like some spiritual experience makes me roll my eyes a bit. It got dark for a bit. It does that shit every day smh.
  
  People aren't amazed because it gets dark for a bit. People are amazed because it reminds us that the sun and the moon are real 3d objects incredibly far away, not just images in the sky. I can understand how it is a spiritual experience for a lot of people.
  
  It turns out, animals get freaked out when sun does weird thing, and we're animals too
  EDIT: I went and it was the coolest thing I've ever seen. That still just means I was bowled over by a rock casting a shadow. ¯(ツ)_/¯
  
  This is the most wrong comment I have ever seen on this entire fucking website.
  I can assure anyone reading this, that this guy is just being a contrarian to seem better than other people.
  The eclipse was the single greatest thing I've ever seen in my life.
  
  People like to find meaning in all sorts of things.
  
  Did you forget to look at it?
  No one is getting hyped for it being dark outside, they're hyped for being able to see the corona of the sun with their naked eyes.
- People tend to forget only 37% of US americans have a working passport.
  
  That's because only 63% of us can afford international travel and most of the 37% goes to Canada, Mexico, or the Caribbean.
- Or go outside at midnight, which is technically a total eclipse.
  
  Uh, how do you figure that?

I'd like to solve, Alex:
What are different places on Earth from where the eclipse is visible?
- Correct, that's $200 for you and you still have control of the board
  
  Is akin to people complaining about how the posts in a thread don't all agree on something, so the forum and its participants are hypocritical.

And you may find yourself behind the holes you cut into some cereal box
- And you may find yourself Airbnbing a shotgun shack
  
  And you may find yourself burning down the house
  
  I've got a live feed that's better than that, don't have to travel nowhere...

Saw it with totality.
Worth it.
Even if you only get a once in a lifetime shot, do it.
- Yeah, after seeing a total eclipse, all those partial eclipses seem like nothing. I'm not sure I'll even bother watching a partial or annular eclipse again.
  Glad you were able to see it without cloud cover. I ended up changing my destination this morning due to cloud forecast.
  
  Did you get to see it when you moved?
- I just did too. It was really cool!
- I saw the 2017 one and I’m curious what you mean by worth it? Like, worth the effort to go outside and look up? I personally wouldn’t go out of my way to see it again. It was cool but not, $1000 dollar for a campsite cool.
  
  I saw the 2017, and spent well over $3k to travel with my family to see it again today. Granted it was more so I could show it to THEM, but I wanted to see it again too.
  
  Fly on a plane + hotel cool.
  
  It cost us a hotel room at a marginally inflated rate (less than $200). Eclipses aren’t a secret so you can plan/buy ahead, you don’t get caught up in the price gouging. We packed food and drinks in a cooler to save $.
  I’m not sure what you mean by going “outside and looking up” other than maybe trying to be dismissive. If you live in the path of totality, going outside and looking up (with appropriate eye protection) is a serious piece of luck, a luxury, and paying “1000 for a campsite” isn’t a problem. If you don’t live in the path of totality then you don’t get to see it - and seeing totality is what’s “worth it”, not just the moon partially blocking the sun.

Eclipses might be a dime-a-dozen, but Halley's Comet doesn't mess around. My grandad saw it twice. I hope to, too. It comes once every 75 years. The last time was 1986. The next is 2061. If you were born today, you'd have to live to be 112 years-old to see it a second time.
- Hmm, it's possible I will never have been around when it has passed earth. I'm healthy, but life is harsh.
  
  I wish you luck.
- I was 6 the last time Halley's Comet swung through. I'm honestly hoping to see it three times.
  
  Planning to live to at least 156? Well, good luck!
  
  I wish you even more luck.
- Good luck to humanity for 2061
  
  Yeah, this is all provided the atmosphere remains transparent to the human eye in any case.

not if you don't want to take a plane to see it
- you either have to take a plane/long drive or be very lucky

The next total eclipse over the US will be in 2078
- 2044
  
  2024
  
  But there will be a European one in 2026.
  The Total Eclipse in Europe will cross southern Spain on the evening of 12th August, 2026. Next total eclipse in Europe will rarely be the following year, 2027, in the southern Spain. Next after will only happen in 2061, over Russia and Kazajstan
  And I'm gonna remember this April American one being hyped and I'm half a world away from seeing it.
  Some form of frequency illusoon, I'm sure.

Maybe a location thing. The current eclipse passes through NY today, the next one touching NY won’t be until 2079. Texas 2045. So it’s all over the place time-wise between eclipses and location.
- Also there are a lot more partial eclipses then total like today.

I propose that the next big NASA project should be to fix those stupid 5° tilt on the moons orbital plane.
- Or to make a giant disc that can be positioned in an orbit that totally eclipses the sun and/or our hearts regularly so that when we're old we can bitch at kids about how total eclipses used to be rare and special but now everyone takes them for granted because NASA wasted a bunch of money making them mundane and that's what happened to our retirement funds and is why grandparents live in boxes and look forward to the relative comfort of the final box.
  Edit: wording

Everytime I do something I'm gonna say to people " that won't happen for another 150 years".
- I've seen somebody on Facebook post 2024 has 366 days. This won't happen again for another thousand years.
  Yeah, leap years.
  
  They were right, though.
  A year with 366 days and ending in "024" won't happen for another thousand years.
- You won't see another comment like this for another 160 years people.

Yeah, but most of those are boring-ass lunar eclipses. The cool one, the solar eclipse, is much rarer.
- Even a full solar eclipse happens every 2 years or so.
  
  Total solar eclipses in any given area only happen about once in 300 years I think? (I'm too lazy to go look up the exact math). So unless you are willing to travel the 150 year number isn't that wrong.
  
  Problem is most of them are over water
- It's still not really that cool tbh.

Solar eclipses happen every 1-3 years.
But the darkest shadow called the umbra only falls in a very tiny place, slightly bigger than a few Districts and that shadow moves in a line and those places experience total solar eclipse.
So next year there may be another solar eclipse but New York will not experience a total solar eclipse for a long time.
Also two-thirds of the earth is water so most of the time the umbra falls on the sea.

Got lucky here as the clouds melted away enabling a good look from about 30% onward. Reinforced for me the fact that even though we are not even a microscopic part of the cosmic whole this event, also not a microscopic part of the infinity of the universe, is still a very moving and impressive thing

the likelihood that you get an eclipse with totality near enough to you where you can see it.
Is basically zero.

Who the hell witnesses totality "every year and a half"? Moron.

Even with cloud cover, seeing it at home was something special. I know what it's supposed to look and sound like at that hour. It wasn't the same as night - I could still see sunlight on the horizon all around me. I could sense that the wildlife was confused by it - all the birds just flew to the tops of the trees and were trying to make sense of what was happening. The bugs went quiet, and we were all whispering for no apparent reason - it just felt appropriate. The slow descent into darkness was unsettling, especially under cloud cover - it felt like we were under the gaze of a passing giant we could not see. I was surprised by how relieved I felt when the light started to return. It wasn't what I was expecting but the strangeness of it didn't disappoint, and I don't think seeing it away from home would have been quite the same.
- You put it very eloquently. I had the same feeling - it was a primal uneasiness.

It's hard to say because all of the figures come from different places, and the news articles always like to say the longer figures to gather more attention.
ex: There won't be another eclipse over Ohio for ___ years vs There won't be another eclipse over the continental U.S. for ___ years vs There won't be another eclipse anywhere in the world for ___ years

The problem is there are different once in a century events every year or two

Eclipses happen during eclipse seasons, which happen every six months.

You're thinking of Haley's comet. Easy mistake.

Once in a lifetime on the current track maybe. But the next one after this one happend in 2033.
- I was 20km from the path of the totality. The next one I'll even be able to see a partial eclipse isn't happening until ~2045.
  
  Sadly (or not), Life is a crapshoot.
  
  You didn't bother to travel 20km to see the totality?
- Hey, you can't tell people in the past that! They might figure out the moon gets destroyed later. You want the time authority to vaporize you or something?
  
  I am a Time Authority. Not a Lord, mind you. Those worthies get to tool around those fancy teleboxes doing all kinds of adventurous, dare i say, romatic escapades. We mere Authorities merely monitor and report. Vaporization is above my pay grade

I just had this argument with my family, timely!

There was a great episode of NOVA on pbs last night talking indepth about eclipses and their frequency. The gist wad that they have known how to predict them to within 4 minutes and they occur about every 7 years

Terms and conditions apply

- They're really not that interesting unless you're in totality.
  Then the world turns upside down. The sun is replaced with a black disk in the sky, with whispy tendrils of corona. The birds all land in the trees and the dogs all start barking. The crickets and frogs think it's nighttime and start making a huge racket. For a couple minutes the world is unlike anything you've seen.
  And then it ends and you're stuck in a 15 hour traffic jam with all the rest of the people who've experienced an other-worldly event.
  (I saw the one in 2017 but I'm skipping this one.)
  
  I still found the 85% one in 2017 really freaking cool. Getting about 90% this time!
  
  Unlike anything you've seen, except for a dark evening. I saw 2017 as well and the shadows were cool but I really don't think it was worth the hype.
- "it's just the moon" is honestly a wild opinion to me.
  It's just the massive orb that circles our world through all of known history, which bends the oceans and tectonic crusts with it's movement, that inspired incredible amounts of art and culture, and is about to create a phenomenon which blots out the sun, in an incredible coincidence of size, position and timing, as the latest iteration of a pattern that may well have been the original inspiration for ways of thinking that went on to become the foundation for all of scientific thought. Nbd.
- You're getting downvoted, however it's quite honestly a valid opinion.
  
  Yeah I saw the last one and was honestly pretty annoyed by all the hype. It got dark. The shadows were cool though.
- Let people enjoy things.
- Don't yuck my yum 🖖
  
  I'm gonna yum your yuck 🤌
- https://youtu.be/0la5DBtOVNI