Solar eclipse 2017: When’s the next total eclipse coming?

The view of the 2017 total eclipse has passed the West Coast, so the incredible astronomical event is over in Seattle. For those who can’t wait for another one, you missed this one, or are just getting some FOMO looking at friends’ photos from Oregon, when’s the next chance to catch one?

The good news: Eclipses are not infrequent, happening every 18 months or so all over the world. The bad news: Eclipses popping up in a specific place are pretty rare.

The next solar eclipse

Worldwide, the next solar eclipse is on July 2, 2019, passing over the South Pacific as well as parts of Chile and Argentina.

The next solar eclipse visible in the United States

The totality line of the April 8, 2024 eclipse sweeps up through Mexico, enters the United States around southwest Texas, and runs northeast through Indiana, Ohio, and Maine.

An August 2045 eclipse will get a little closer to us—essentially the same eclipse that happened Monday, but shifted south, passing over northern California and crossing the United States through Nevada, Colorado, Utah, and others before the last U.S. totality location in southeast Florida.

The next solar eclipse visible in Seattle

On August 23, 2044, an eclipse will barely graze the United States, showing totality only in parts of Montana and North Dakota. We’ll see partial eclipse during that event—similar to the one we saw Monday.

Seattle won’t experience another partial eclipse until an annular eclipse in 2084—and won’t get another partial total eclipse until 2108.

The next total solar eclipse visible in Seattle

None of us alive today were around to witness the last total eclipse to grace Seattle in 1860—although some caught the closest since then in 1979. Unless human life expectancy dramatically changes in the coming years, we’ll all likely have to travel to see totality in our lifetimes: The next one isn’t coming until June 24, 2169.

• When is the next total solar eclipse? [Vox]
• Solar eclipses: past and future [NASA]

Special thanks to the University of Washington Department of Astronomy for providing some data used in this article.