In the town of Longyearby in the Finnish Alps, residents experience a solar eclipse at least every 2.2 years on average. Recently, a solar eclipse was visible over a large area in Mexico, the United States, and Canada. The path of the eclipse went northeast from Mexico and Texas across 15 states and parts of Canada, darkening the landscape along a strip of land up to 185 kilometers wide for about 16,000 kilometers.
The longest duration of the eclipse in one place was 4 minutes and 20 seconds. Unfortunately, due to the position of the moon’s shadow, the eclipse did not extend to Europe on this occasion. However, in Norway’s Svalbard, particularly in Longyearbyen, eclipses can be expected every 2.2 years on average, including partial and annular solar eclipses.
Eclipses occur most frequently at northern and southern latitudes near the polar regions. Residents of these regions see an eclipse about once every 2.2 years, while those near the equator witness them approximately once every 2.8 years. The reason for this frequency difference is that long daylight hours during summer provide more opportunities to see eclipses in these regions compared to those nearer the equator where shorter daylight hours make it difficult to view them effectively.
Solar eclipses occur around the globe every 16 months with partial eclipses visible about every fifth month. Detailed calculations have been made to determine which cities on Earth have seen a higher relative share of total solar eclipses over a span of 15000 years.
Northern Hemisphere cities are more likely to witness total solar eclipses than those in Southern Hemisphere due to several factors related to Earth’s orbit and Sun’s size. In Finland, there will be another partial solar eclipse visible on March 29th, 2025. The last total solar eclipse seen in Finland was July 1990, but another one is not expected until after more than two centuries – in 2126.
In conclusion, while some parts of Mexico witnessed a recent total solar eclipse that crossed multiple countries including Canada and US; Finland experiences one almost every two years on average with varying durations but no longer than four minutes and twenty seconds; Longyearbyen is also one such location that experiences similar occurrences regularly with an even higher frequency when compared globally speaking- making it unique among many other places worldwide!
