The 2023 and 2024 Solar Eclipses: Map and Data
- Visualizations by:
- Michala Garrison
- View full credits
Making the Map
This map uses datasets from several NASA missions. The eclipse data were calculated by visualizer Ernie Wright using elevation information from SRTM, lunar topography from LRO, and planetary positions from the JPL DE421 ephemeris. The lead visualizer, Michala Garrison, used Earth imagery from NASA’s Blue Marble Next Generation to create the terrain map. Likewise, nighttime Earth imagery from NASA’s Black Marble were used along the path of the 2024 total solar eclipse.Reading the Map
The dark paths across the map are where the largest area of the Sun will be covered by the Moon. People in these paths will experience either an annular or total solar eclipse. Inside these dark eclipse paths are irregular ovals that delineate the Moon’s shadow on the Earth’s surface. For an annular solar eclipse, these ovals are called the antumbra and together make up the path of annularity. For a total solar eclipse, the ovals are called the umbra and create the path of totality. On the map, the ovals contain times inside corresponding to the shape of the Moon’s shadow cast at that time during the eclipse.Also within the dark paths are duration contours. These delineate the length of time annularity or totality will last. The closer to the center of the solar eclipse path, the longer it will last. For the annular path, times range from a few seconds on the outer edge to a maximum of around 4.5 minutes in the center. For the total path, times range up to 4 minutes.
Outside the eclipse paths, the map displays contours of obscuration, or percentage of the Sun’s area covered by the Moon. Readers can trace the lines to percents printed along the left and top of map for the 2023 annular solar eclipse and along the right and bottom for the 2024 total solar eclipse. Notice how the 2024 total solar eclipse has a higher maximum percentage because the Moon will completely cover the Sun’s surface.
Learn more about the map here. View an up-close tour of the map here.
Download Eclipse Data
2023 Annular Eclipse Data:2023eclipse_shapefiles.zip
2024 Total Solar Eclipse Data:2024eclipse_shapefiles.zip
Each .zip file above contains the following files:
- center.shp A high-resolution polyline tracing the path of the shadow center. Region limited.
- duration.shp Isocontours of maximum total or annular duration, at 30-second intervals.
- ppath.shp “Penumbra path,” contours of maximum partial obscuration (area of the Sun covered by the Moon) at 5% intervals.
- ppath01.shp “Penumbra path,” contours of maximum partial obscuration (area of the Sun covered by the Moon) at 1% intervals.
- umbra_hi.shp High resolution umbra (or antumbra) polygons, at 1-second intervals. Region limited.
- umbra_lo.shp Lower resolution umbra (or antumbra) polygons, at 10-second intervals. Global.
- upath_hi.shp High resolution path shape. Region limited.
- upath_lo.shp Lower resolution path shape. Global.
More Map Versions
Credits
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio
Visualizers
- Michala Garrison (SSAI) [Lead]
- Ernie Wright (USRA)
Scientists
- Carolyn Ng (None)
- Michael S. Kirk (NASA/GSFC)
Technical support
- Ian Jones (ADNET)
- Laurence Schuler (ADNET)
Project manager
- Shannon Reed (ADNET)
Datasets used in this visualization
Suomi NPP Black Marble (A.K.A. Black Marble: Next Generation) (Collected with the VIIRS sensor)
Earth at night imagery
Credit: NASA Earth Observatory images by Joshua Stevens, using Suomi NPP VIIRS data from Miguel Román, NASA GSFC.
Dataset can be found at: https://visibleearth.nasa.gov/images/144898/earth-at-night-black-marble-2016-color-maps/144947l
See more visualizations using this data setTerra and Aqua BMNG (A.K.A. Blue Marble: Next Generation) (Collected with the MODIS sensor)
Credit: The Blue Marble data is courtesy of Reto Stockli (NASA/GSFC).
Dataset can be found at: http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/BlueMarble/
See more visualizations using this data setSRTM DEM (Collected with the SIR-C sensor)
LRO DEM (A.K.A. Digital Elevation Map) (Collected with the LOLA sensor)
LRO/SELENE SLDEM2015 (A.K.A. DIgital Elevation Model) (Collected with the LOLA/TC sensor)
A digital elevation model of the Moon derived from the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter and the SELENE Terrain Camera. See the description in Icarus. The data is here.
See more visualizations using this data setDE421 (A.K.A. JPL DE421)
Planetary ephemerides
Dataset can be found at: http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/?ephemerides#planets
See more visualizations using this data setNote: While we identify the data sets used in these visualizations, we do not store any further details nor the data sets themselves on our site.