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In the coming years, the Hill Country will play center stage to two phenomenal solar events. On Saturday, October 14, 2023, an annular solar eclipse will occur. A total solar eclipse will take place almost six months later, on Monday, April 8, 2024. The 2023 eclipse path of annularity will begin on the coast of Oregon and sweep northwest to southeast across the United States. It will enter Texas crossing over the Panhandle Plains and the Permian Basin, making its way down to the Gulf Coast. In the Hill Country, it will be seen as far north as Fredericksburg, as far south as Uvalde, to the west in Rocksprings, and New Braunfels in the east. At the centerline, annularity will last just a few seconds shy of five minutes. The 2024 eclipse path of totality will play opposite to 2023, entering the United States and Texas at the southeastern-most tip of the Hill Country and making its way northeast, eventually departing up in the Piney Woods region of the state. While some eastern parts of Travis, Hays, Comal, and Bexar counties fall outside of the path of totality, their county’s western areas will bear witness, as will all the other counties of the Hill Country. At the centerline, observers will get almost four and a half minutes of totality.
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