Scroll down on this NASA page and there’s links to tables of past and future eclipses out through 2100 AD. The “Decade Solar Eclipse Table” gives the general geographic area and from there you can click the link the “Central Duration” link and scroll down on THAT page to reach a link to a Google map (under “Additional Links”).
There’s also a direct “Solar Eclipses on Google Maps” table but that one, unhelpfully, gives no hints as to where each one will be until you click on the map link itself (unless you can read and understand the coordinates).
You can (and should) view totality with the naked eye.
Anything before or after needs to be viewed by projection, or direct view through a certified filter, like these.
Unless it’s total you won’t really notice anything at all.
If you look through a dark viewer you would be able to see the disk of the sun being obscured, but even the little that would be left is enough to keep things lit up.
I’m in luck. I’ve a cousin who lives just south of St. Louis, totally in the totality area, and she’s already said she’d love to have me come visit. All I have to do is buy plane tickets, and so far none of the airlines are selling tickets that far ahead. At least, not that I’ve found.
I believe I’ve found the perfect surreal location for the viewing. Alliance, Nebraska, home of Carhenge, is dead center of the eclipse zone. Any magic that might happen will happen there!
I was there last week. I was doing some looking around to see if I could identify which specific car models were used, and saw on the website that it’s dead center in the eclipse zone.
So now I’m thinking of a second trip there, and a second trip through Badlands National Park on the way back. Nothing certain yet, though.
If memory serves, the 1979 eclipse that went through Portland also went through the Stonehenge replica in Maryhill, WA. I seem to recall that some neo-druid types had some kind of ceremony there during the eclipse. No magic happened as far as I know.
My in-laws are taking us all (me, husband, SIL, BIL and two toddler nieces) to Oregon for the eclipse. It’s their 50th wedding anniversary trip. We booked the last two condos in a big central Oregon resort. I can’t quite imagine it, although my MIL sent us this piece by Annie Dillard, which was a lovely and exciting read. (Slightly weird formatting, sorry)
I have to disagree with this. When I witnessed the 60% eclipse in 1994, the temperature dropped by about 15 degrees, and even though things didn’t look that much different, the streetlights came on even though there wasn’t a cloud in the sky.
What will it look like to rest of us? I have questions but I don’t know how to phrase them.
