Eclipse Over Texas

A total solar eclipse will take place April 8, 2024, and Central Texas will be an ideal location for viewing the rare celestial display. Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, is teaming with Baylor, the City of Waco and Discovery on a public event: Eclipse Over Texas 2024. This will include an onsite celebration at Baylor’s McLane Stadium and virtual programming that people around the world may view.

“If you missed experiencing totality during the 2017 Great American Eclipse, you have another chance in 2024 to see for yourself the silvery filaments of the solar corona emanating from the velvet hole in the sky that is left when the moon fully eclipses the sun,” Lowell Observatory Chief Marketing and Revenue Officer Danielle Adams, Ph.D., said.

Eclipse Over Texas: Live from Waco will consist of presentations by astronomers and science educators, interactive activities and safe telescope viewing of the sun as it progresses through the eclipse. The partial phase of the solar eclipse will begin at 12:20 p.m. CDT as seen in Waco. The sun’s surface will gradually be covered until totality begins at 1:38 p.m. Totality will last four minutes, 13 seconds, after which the sun will gradually emerge from the moon’s shadow, ending at 2 p.m.

Discovery will broadcast the event on their linear and digital networks. Scott Lewers is executive vice president of multiplatform programming, factual, and head of content, science, for Discovery.

“There is nothing like the collective experience of a moment like this to bring the world together,” Lewers said. “It’s important to document these times to capture the feeling for years to come. Discovery is excited to collaborate with Lowell Observatory, the City of Waco and Baylor University to bring this moment to people around the world.”

Eclipse Over Texas: Live from Waco activities will take place on the South Plaza and Touchdown Alley areas of McLane Stadium. Members of Baylor’s physics department will share this experience with local and international communities by hosting teacher training workshops and a scientific conference leading up to the eclipse.

Barbara Castanheira-Endl, Ph.D., senior lecturer of physics at Baylor, is excited for the 2024 eclipse.

“As a professional astronomer, I find that looking at stars through world-class telescopes can’t approach the visceral experience of gazing at our sun as it is eclipsed by the moon,” she said.

Waco sits very close to the middle of the path of totality. This, combined with historically pleasant weather in April and easy access due to Interstate 35, makes Waco an ideal location for an eclipse event.