Thanks to Fred Espenak at the NASA, Goddard Space Flight Center, we can plan ahead for these events and where best to be at the time they are scheduled. His map is shown in Figure 8 for all solar eclipses in the 21st Century. After a very long dry spell, on August 21, 2017 there will be one whose track goes from the state of Washington, passes down through Kentucky, and exits on the East Coast near the Carolinas. There will be total solar eclipse through Texas, Kentucky, Ohio and New England on April 8, 2024. The crossing of these two tracks in western Kentucky and southern Illinois will no doubt be considered 'cosmic' for folks living in these regions. Further on into the 21st century, there will be total eclipses on August 12, 2045 (California, Colorado, Florida), March 30, 2052 (Georgia), May 11, 2078 (Louisiana ,Alabama, N. Carolina), May 1, 2079 (Pennsylvania, New York, Massachusetts, Maine) and September 14, 2099 (North Dakota, Michigan, Virginia). There are also eight annular solar eclipses but those will hardly be noticed by the general public.

This answer was updated in 2011. See my books: The Astronomy Cafe (1998) and Back to the Astronomy Cafe (2003) for more FAQs in printed form. Author: Dr. Sten Odenwald, Copyright 2011 Return to Ask the Astronomer