San Francisco: When is the next total solar eclipse?

Fun yet fleeting was the solar eclipse that passed through the United States today. Crowds gathered on rooftops. People planned viewing parties. Retinas danced close to the edge of irrevocable eye damage. Merriment was had by all.

But when will the Bay Area get the chance to do it all over again? Not for several decades.

The next solar eclipse over the United States will be in 2024. Unfortunately, only the midwest and east coast will get to see that celestial event in its totality. The northwest will have to wait until August 12, 2045 to see the next total solar eclipse pass through the Bay Area.

If you simply cannot wait that long to see the moon block out the sun, fret not. Another one is soon on the way.

“Total solar eclipses happen somewhere in the world every 18 months or so,” repots Vox. “That’s how long it takes for the specific conditions that create eclipses (the phases of the moon, the distance of the moon to Earth, and the moon crossing the plane of Earth’s orbit) to line back up.”

Map via GreatAmericanEclipse.com

The next one will be on July 2, 2019, covering over a wide path of the Southern Pacific before passing across Chile and Argentina.

For the truly curious, NASA mapped every eclipse (lunar and solar) that will occur for the next 1,000 years.

• When is the next total solar eclipse? [Vox]
• Solar eclipse 2017: Photos from around the Bay Area [Curbed SF]
• Solar eclipse 2017: Photos from around the Bay Area [Curbed SF]