If you're in the U.S., a total solar eclipse is coming to a sky near you

It will happen next summer starting from Oregon to South Carolina.
(Image credit: RICHARD BOUHET/AFP/Getty Images)

Anyone worried about the world ending next year should probably mark their calendars for Aug. 21, when the sun will "undergo the most amazing celestial disappearing act seen [in North America] since 1979," National Geographic reports. The sun's disappearing act, more commonly known as a solar eclipse, will stretch from Oregon to South Carolina next summer.

A partial eclipse, where the moon shadows just a side of the sun, will be visible for much of the country. The "total" solar eclipse will also reach many American cities, with "most" of the U.S. population within a day's drive of a location that will go totally dark as the moon blocks the light of the sun. Or, as Shakespeare puts it: "'Tis day, and yet dark night strangles the traveling lamp." Have fun with that!

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
Explore More
Jeva Lange

Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.