A total solar eclipse will occur at the Moon's ascending node of orbit on Monday, May 1, 2079, with a magnitude of 1.0512. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partly obscuring the image of the Sun for a viewer on Earth. A total solar eclipse occurs when the Moon's apparent diameter is larger than the Sun's, blocking all direct sunlight, turning day into darkness. Totality occurs in a narrow path across Earth's surface, with the partial solar eclipse visible over a surrounding region thousands of kilometres wide. Occurring about 1.2 days before perigee (on May 2, 2079, at 14:45 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter will be larger.
The path of totality will be visible from parts of Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine in the United States, eastern Canada (including Newfoundland and Labrador, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island), and Greenland. A partial solar eclipse will also be visible for parts of eastern North America, the eastern Caribbean, Northwest Africa, Europe, and much of Russia.
This will be the first total eclipse visible from New York City since January 24, 1925, and unlike the previous eclipse, the city will experience totality across the entire city limits.
The path of totality will start in eastern Pennsylvania. A total eclipse will be visible along the path of Philadelphia, New York City, Hartford, Providence, Rhode Island, Boston, and Portland, Maine in the United States. Partial eclipses will be visible in Charlotte, Richmond, Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Buffalo. In Canada, the total eclipse can be visible in Halifax, and Saint John, while the partial eclipse can be seen in Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa, and most of northern Canada. The path then passes directly through Nuuk, making it visible to most of Greenland. The path will end near the Bering Strait. A partial eclipse can be visible in a very small part of South America, Northern Africa, Europe and Northern Asia (Mostly Russia). The path of totality barely misses the North Pole by about 100 miles (160 km).
Shown below are two tables displaying details about this particular solar eclipse. The first table outlines times at which the Moon's penumbra or umbra attains the specific parameter, and the second table describes various other parameters pertaining to this eclipse.
This eclipse is part of an eclipse season, a period, roughly every six months, when eclipses occur. Only two (or occasionally three) eclipse seasons occur each year, and each season lasts about 35 days and repeats just short of six months (173 days) later; thus two full eclipse seasons always occur each year. Either two or three eclipses happen each eclipse season. In the sequence below, each eclipse is separated by a fortnight.