Weather and geography may make it difficult to see the rare spectacle, but those in the path or experiencing clear skies may get a show worth waking up early for.
Somewhere on Earth every two years, as our planet, the Sun and the Moon wander, they line up like billiard balls on a velvety space table. You may cry or scream as you watch the worlds disappear one behind the other in an eclipse. But getting to that point often takes hard work, and maybe even a little luck.
This seemed as true for the coming eclipse as it has been for humans ever since they began to pursue these celestial events.
The Sun will be almost completely obscured by the Moon for a few dawn hours in an annular solar eclipse, just after sunrise over the eastern half of North America on Thursday.
During such an eclipse, the dark silhouette of the Moon – too far from Earth to completely cover the Sun – would be surrounded by a thin ring of the surface, or photosphere, of our home star. Many people know this as the "ring of fire," but few will experience the full effect.
The eclipse will begin after sunrise north of Lake Superior as it enters remote regions of Canada and then Greenland and the Arctic Ocean before moving to the North Pole. It travels south before ending in parts of the Russian Far East.
Still, some lucky souls will get to experience this cosmic geometry, and some were fearless and well organized enough to book airplane flights in an area of maximum darkness. Many of us will experience a partial solar eclipse if we wake up early enough to see the sky clear.
How can I watch the eclipse?
The ring of fire will appear in a narrow band in far northern latitudes, beginning at sunrise or 5:55 a.m. Eastern time near Lake Superior in Ontario, Canada. It will then cross Greenland, the Arctic Ocean and the North Pole, ending in Siberia at sunset, or 7:29 a.m. Eastern Time.
Outside that band, observers will see a crescent or partial solar eclipse. The closer they are to the center line, the more the Sun will move.
In the New York metropolitan area, said Mike Kentrianakis, who was eclipse project manager for the American Astronomical Society during the big eclipse in 2017, the Sun will be about two-thirds obscured when it rises at 5:25 a.m. Eastern Time.
"It will reach a maximum opacity of approximately 73 percent at 5:32 a.m. from New York City," he wrote in an email.
However, a lot will depend on the weather. A weather forecast forecast clouds in the sky at sunrise in New York, but there is little chance of rain.
Is it safe to view a partial solar eclipse or annular?
No. Unless you're wearing special protective glasses, it's never a good idea to look directly at the Sun, even if it's a partial or annular eclipse.
Exposure to intense light from the Sun during an eclipse can cause injury to your retina that may not heal. Such damage can lead to permanent vision loss, depending on how much exposure you experience.
To be safe, wear eclipse glasses while watching the eclipse. No sunglasses—Eclipse glasses, like you might have kept in a drawer after 2017's "Great American Eclipse."
But if you can't get any glasses or other filtering spectators in time for Thursday's eclipse, you can do other things, like making a pinhole projector at home with cardboard or paper plates. Here are some instructions.
If you want to be more prepared for a solar eclipse next time in your vicinity, here's a list of reputable vendors from the American Astronomical Society.
Can I watch the eclipse online?
There are several options for watching a stream of the eclipse.
NASA will begin its video coverage on YouTube at 5 a.m. Eastern Time, although the agency says the view will remain dark until 5:47 a.m.
Other websites including timeanddate.com and Virtual Telescope will also provide streams from various locations, that too from 5 a.m. onwards.
Chance of cloudy sky in New York.
Early on Wednesday, Mr. Kentrianakis sat near the shores of Lake Ontario in a Greece, N.Y. Arrive at the inn. A lifelong eclipse chaser, Mr. Kentrianakis originally helped organize an event for an eclipse watch at Randall's Island in New York City. But the clouds in the forecast prompted him to make a seven-hour drive in search of clear skies above.
At sunrise on Thursday, he expects to see the tips of the submerged sun rising over Lake Ontario.
"Like the horns of the devil." Mr Kentrianakis said. "They can even move like a snake."
Back in Manhattan, Catherine Troch of the Amateur Astronomers Association of New York will watch and livestream the solar eclipse with a group of people on one of the top floors of a 1,400-foot skyscraper in Midtown.
On Thursday there will be Ms. Troche's second solar eclipse. But he is also looking forward to seeing his fellow eclipse watchers.
"The look on people's faces is absolutely, 1,000 percent worth it," she said.
With a likely cloud forecast for tomorrow, Ms Troche, who lives in Elmhurst, Queens, has spent most of her evening refreshing her various weather apps.
"Fingers really crossed," she said. "But partly cloudy means partly clear."
The forecast also couldn't stop 25 early risers from heading to the Empire State Building's observation deck. To catch a glimpse of the eclipse from 1,050 feet above Manhattan, attendees paid $114.81, almost triple the usual $42 entrance fee.
Guests will be given eclipse glasses and can buy coffee from an on-site Starbucks for 90 cents, a sign for the Empire State Building's upcoming 90th birthday.
- Sabrina Embler and Claire Fahyo
'Something we can share apart' in Canada.
The annular route in Canada would pass through many places that would have been complicated to travel in normal times. COVID-19 restrictions make this even more difficult, and large groups are not advised to travel and gather in Ontario and Quebec.
"We're encouraging people to look at it as safe as individuals and their social bubbles," said Mike Reed, public outreach coordinator at the University of Astronomy and Astrophysics' Dunlop Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics, "and at home or are encouraged to stay in a safe place. Toronto.
While these requirements are in stark contrast to the situation in 2017, when North America witnessed a massive total solar eclipse, Dr. Reid said there was a glimmer of hope: The pandemic prompted the institute and colleagues at Discover the Universe, an astronomy training program based in Quebec, to send 20,000 eclipse spectators to people in and around the path of the eclipse, Including the Canadian territory of Nunavut, whose population is predominantly Inuit.
"Because they're in fairly remote locations, we wanted to make sure they'd have the content to see it," said Julie Bolduc-Duval, executive director of Discover the Universe.
Dr. Reid continued, "We are in situations, in this pandemic, where everyone is forced to stay at home, but it really helped bring everyone together on this one special thing."
Sudbury, Ontario, is out of the path of the annular, but will still experience an eclipse of 85 percent of the Sun. Olathe McIntyre, SpacePlace staff scientist and planetarium at Science North, a museum there, plans to contribute to Thursday's livestream of the eclipse.
"It's something we can share differently," Dr. McIntyre said.
— Becky Ferreira
Preparations for the eclipse in Greenland and Russia.
Pat Smith works for Polar Field Services in Greenland, a company contracted by the National Science Foundation to help scientists and others plan expeditions to remote parts of the Arctic. Mr Smith plans to watch the eclipse at a site near Thule Air Base, a North American military base about 700 miles from the Arctic Circle.
The site, North Mountain, is within the path of the annular eclipse, which will last about four minutes there, and viewing conditions are expected to be clear. Mr. Smith plans to take photographs during the event.
In Russia, the eclipse will only be visible in full in some of the country's most remote regions to the east, which are closer to Alaska than Moscow.
Nevertheless, the Moscow Planetarium plans to install binoculars that allow residents of the capital to view the event, although the Sun is expected to be only about 15 percent obscured there.
The planetarium in Novosibirsk, Siberia's most populous city, will also host a viewing. A local news website in the city reminded residents to protect their eyes if they look at the sun.
— Becky Ferreira and Alina Lobzina
Now Boarding: Eclipse Air.
Jay Pasachoff, an astronomer at Williams College, has followed eclipses all over the world and was not planning to miss it.
He, his wife, Naomi, and 30 others or more have been booked on a three-hour Delta flight from Minneapolis to dark and back. The trip is sponsored by Sky & Telescope magazine and led by Kelly Beatty, the magazine's senior editor.
According to the price list, the cost of the plane's seats was up to $3,100.
In addition to examining a new camera, Dr. Pasachoff said, he will practice for a similar eclipse flight on Dec. 4 from Punta Arenas, Chile, to watch the total solar eclipse over Antarctica.
"The event will also be nostalgic," said Dr Pasachoff. "Because I saw my first solar eclipse" - Total - "At sunrise from a plane off the coast of Massachusetts when I was a freshman at Harvard 61 years ago."
— Dennis Overbay