When Is The Solar Eclipse? Exactly When To Watch From Every U.S. State

On Saturday, October 14 a major solar eclipse will come to North America. From a narrow path through nine states in the U.S. Southwest a “ring of fire” will be seen as the thin outer ring of the sun’s disk remains visible while its center is covered by the smaller dark disk of the moon.

For everyone else in the U.S. a partial solar eclipse will be the whole ball-game.

It won’t be as grand a spectacle as a total solar eclipse—which is coming to North America in April—largely because solar eclipse glasses are required throughout the entire event, but Saturday sees a significant and spectacular celestial event.

MORE FROM FORBESYour Complete Guide To Solar Eclipse Glasses Ahead Of October 14By Jamie Carter

When To See The Solar Eclipse From Every U.S. State

If you need to know when the eclipse is in California, Texas, Florida, New York or any other in the contiguous U.S. then check out these useful maps from ace eclipse cartographer Michael Zeiler at GreatAmericanEclipse.com.

They show the path of annularity—a 125 miles wide path through nine U.S. states where the “ring of fire” will be visible from. Those states are: Oregon, northern California, southwestern Idaho, Nevada, Utah, northeastern Arizona, southwestern Colorado, New Mexico and Texas.

However, they also show the start, finish and peak times of the eclipse for the entire continent.

When The Solar Eclipse Begins In Every U.S. State

Here are the local times the partial solar eclipse phase begins in all contiguous U.S. states on October 14, 2023.

When The Solar Eclipse Peaks In Every U.S. State

Here are the local times the solar eclipse peaks in all contiguous U.S. states on October 14, 2023.

If you want to be outside to see the moment when the most of the sun is obscured by the moon, this is the map you need:

How Much Of The Sun Will Be Eclipsed

Wherever you are in the U.S. here’s how much of the sun will be covered.

As you can see, it matters how far you are from that path of annularity. The closer you are, the more of the sun will disappear behind the moon. So this is a “better” eclipse the farther west you are in the U.S—with the plum region the narrow path of annularity.

When The Solar Eclipse Ends In Every U.S. State

Here are the local times the partial solar eclipse phase ends in all contiguous U.S. states on October 14, 2023:

How Long The Partial Solar Eclipse Will Last

The entire event—from “first contact” when the moon begins to cover the sun to when it finally departs at “fourth contact”—will take between two and three hours, depending on your location.

A good way to find out the time of the eclipse for any location is to use the “eclipse lookup” option on Timeanddate.com. It will give you an entire schedule for any location, like this one for Los Angeles:

It’s also worth checking out this interactive map and these simulations of exactly what you’ll see from any location in the U.S.—which look like this for San Antonio:

How Long The ‘Ring Of Fire’ Solar Eclipse Will Last

From within the path of the annular solar eclipse the spectacle will be no different from the partial solar eclipse across the U.S. except for the fact that a brief “ring of fire” will be seen.

It will begin in Oregon at 9:13 a.m. PDT and end in Texas at 12:03 p.m. CDT. That’s just 50 minutes in total—the time it takes to cross the U.S.—though for any one location it will last between 4 minutes 32 seconds (in Oregon) to 4 minutes 52 seconds (in Texas) at the two extremes.

What Is A ‘Ring Of Fire’ Solar Eclipse?

A “ring of fire”—properly called an annular solar eclipse—occurs when the moon appears smaller in the sky than the sun, so doesn’t block all of its light. As the new moon covers the sun’s center its outer edges will form an annulus—a “ring of fire”—though only about 90% of the sun will be blocked.

Those in the path will see a perfect circle for a few minutes—the closer you are to that centerline, the longer it will last—though it’s a diminishing return. All you really have to do is stay away from the southern and northern limits of the path, where the “ring of fire” will last for just a second.

I’m an expert on eclipses—the editor of WhenIsTheNextEclipse.com and author of The Complete Guide To The Great North American Eclipse of April 8, 2024. For the very latest on the “ring of fire” solar eclipse check my main feed for new articles each day.

Wishing you clear skies and wide eyes.

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