When and where? Interactive NASA map shows the best time to see the solar eclipse in your community

BOSTON — A total solar eclipse comes to North America on April 8.

It will enter over Mexico’s Pacific coast, dashing across the U.S. from Texas to Maine before exiting over eastern Canada into the Atlantic.

The peak spectacle will last up to 4 minutes and 28 seconds in the path of total darkness — a 115-mile-wide path that slices across the continent. That’s the place to be to experience the full eclipse — most of the rest of the continent outside the path of totality will get a partial eclipse.

Are you in the path of totality? NASA has you covered with an interactive map that offers a breakdown of the best time to see the solar eclipse in every community across the United States.

New Englanders should expect to get a view of the eclipse beginning at 3:26 p.m., according to NASA’s map.

The total solar eclipse will be visible along a narrow track that stretches through Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine.

Burlington, Vermont, will be in the path of totality from 3:29 p.m. to 4:37 p.m. Lancaster, New Hampshire, will be in the path of totality from 3:30 p.m. to 4:38 p.m. Caribou, Maine, will be in the path of totality from 3:34 p.m. to 4:40 p.m.

Other communities along and adjacent to the path of totality, including those to the south of it in Massachusetts, will have a partial view of the eclipse.

NASA’s map allows users to enter their zip code and see how much of the sun will be obscured by the moon and for how long.

NASA TIPS ON READING THE MAP

The dark path across the map is where the largest area of the Sun will be covered by the Moon.

People in this path will experience a total solar eclipse. Inside the dark eclipse path are irregular ovals that delineate the Moon’s shadow on the Earth’s surface.

For a total solar eclipse, the ovals are called the umbra and create the path of totality. On the map, the ovals contain times inside corresponding to the shape of the Moon’s shadow cast at that time during the eclipse.

Also within the dark path are duration contours. These delineate the length of time totality will last. The closer to the center of the solar eclipse path, the longer it will last.

For the total path, times range up to 4 minutes. Outside the eclipse path, the map displays contours of obscuration or percentage of the Sun’s area covered by the Moon.

Readers can trace the lines to percentages printed along all sides of the map that range from 95% to 10% obscuration. The dark path marks when 100% obscuration begins.

Click here to view NASA’s Eclipse Explorer.

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