Featured Map for 11 August 2017:
Total Solar Eclipse Over The U.S.

Ten days from now, on 21 August 2017, a total solar eclipse will traverse the middle of the United States, with the path of totality passing over 12 states plus tiny bits of two more states. Although this eclipse won't be a terribly long one, with a greatest duration of 2 minutes 40.25 seconds, it has generated a great deal of interest due to its prime location and what will be the first total solar eclipse visible from the contiguous United States since 1979.

The eclipse begins over the North Pacific Ocean about 2,400 km west of North America, with first landfall 28 minutes later near Newport, Oregon, at 10:16 am PDT. 90 minutes later, at about 2:46 am EDT, the shadow will depart land near Mount Pleasant, South Carolina before vanishing over the Atlantic Ocean.

Today's Featured Map shows the land portion of the path of the moon's umbral shadow during the eclipse (a subset of the full eclipse path), with the blue lines marking the northern and southern limits of totality. The location of Greatest Eclipse (GE) is marked with a large black disc surrounded by a white corona; smaller black discs with city names mark 20 airports centered within 10 km of the center of totality. Another 74 airports which lie within the path of totality but are closer to the limits are marked in red, excluding a handful of airports which are very close to the edge. Eclipse predictions are by Fred Espenak, EclipseWise.com.

References and additional information:

• Total eclipse of sun: August 21, 2017 – EarthSky (6 August 2017)
• EclipseWise.com
  • Total Eclipse of the Sun: August 21, 2017
  • Path of the Total Solar Eclipse of 2017 Aug 21
  
  
• Featured Map: Solar Eclipse and Alaska Airlines 870 (8 March 2016)