We know - lots of you might be thinking, "Wait a minute - I'm pretty sure I saw an eclipse, and it wasn't that long ago!"
You may very well have seen a partial or an annular eclipse, BUT...

In the words of Jim Rosenstock, "If you only
think you saw a total eclipse, I promise you - you didn't!"



There are many kinds of eclipses - total solar, partial solar, annular, and lunar, to name the most common few.  Partial eclipses are pretty common, and you very well may have been a part of one of those. Lunar eclipses happen at night, and they can be seen by half the world at the same time! Annular eclipses are much rarer, but you need to have special filters to see them, so many people don't even know they're going on!  But a total eclipse -- these are extremely rare, extremely beautiful, and the bare-eye view of totality is absolutely unmistakable to anyone in the thin path! They are the kings of eclipses, with nothing else able to stand in comparison to!

These are the only total solar eclipses that have touched U.S. soil in the last hundred years, and the general locations you would've had to have been in to see totality:

6/8/1918

A nationwide band of totality stretching from the SW corner of Washington, through Denver, the Tulsa/OKC area, Jackson MS, the panhandle of FL, and Orlando.

9/10/1923

Only visible from the far SW beaches and a couple of the offshore islands in California.

1/24/1925

Northern MN, WI, and MI, and about half of NY (NYC was split in two by the path!), plus pieces of PA, NJ, and CT.
Read the New York Times articles about the 1925 eclipse, courtesy of Michael Zeiler!

8/31/1932

Maine, NH, VT, and the far eastern coast of MA.

2/4/1943

Alaska only

7/9/1945

Our "Victory Eclipse" was visible in ID and MT only, in the early morning.

6/30/1954

From northern NE, through the western tip of Michigan's UP. Minneapolis was in the path. Early morning.

10/2/1959

Massachusetts only, just at sunrise.

7/20/1963

Alaska got a good show, and Maine was the only other state to see totality.

3/7/1970

From central Florida, the path hugged the eastern coast of the US up through Virgina's Eastern Shore.  This may have been the eclipse that Carly Simon was referring to in her 1972 song "You're so vain". ("You flew your Lear jet up to Nova Scotia - to see the total eclipse of the sun.")

7/10/1972

Northern Alaska only.  This might also have been the eclipse that Carly Simon was referring to in her 1972 song "You're so vain".   (see above)  They were both visible from Nova Scotia!  (The song came out in December of 72, so it's unlikely that it was this one, but hey - you never know!

2/26/1979

WA, OR, ID, MT, and ND were the only states to see totality, in the mid-morning.  It was cold and dreary, and unfortunately many people did not see the eclipse due to rain.

7/22/1990

This one only touched four small islands in the Aleutians, in the late afternoon:  Atka, Amlia, Seguam, and Amukta.  From reports we've read, the day was rainy, and unfortunately no one saw the eclipse from US soil.

7/11/1991

Hawaii only, and lots of people were clouded out.  (Many people went to Mexico to see this one, and were not disappointed there!)

That's it for total eclipses seen from the U.S.! Anything else you may have seen was not a total eclipse!

(There was a partial eclipse on Christmas Day 2000, and annular eclipses on May 30, 1984; January 4, 1992; and May 10, 1994 - but these were not totals!!)

 

The United States' 26-year dearth of Total Solar Eclipses is about to end! This rarity and beauty is why we are making all this fuss about the 2017 event, and it is why we want everyone to stop whatever they're doing on that day (Aug 21st), get to the path, and be absolutely awe-struck and amazed for up to two-and-a-half minutes of totality.

"Only two and a half minutes? No way! I'm not even gonna waste my time for that!"
No, no - believe it - Get yourself there; get to the shadow, and see something you simply won't believe. You won't be wasting your time - not by a long shot.
Trust us.