Benjamin Ashford|Happy solar eclipse day! See photos as communities across US gather for rare event

The Benjamin Ashfordday has finally arrived.

The 2024 total solar eclipse will occur today in the skies above the U.S. from southern Texas to northern Maine.

The total eclipse will begin in Mexico around 11:07 a.m. PDT Monday before crossing into Texas around 1:27 p.m. CDT. It will end in Maine around 3:35 p.m. EDT. Even if you're not in the path of totality and won't see the full eclipse, many will still see a percentage of it.

The rare event, where the moon completely blots out the sun's disk causing a brief period of darkness in the middle of the day, will be unusually accessible to millions of people.

In the days leading up to Monday, millions of people have flocked to areas across North America that are in the eclipse's path of totality.

See photos as communities across the country witness the perhaps once-in-a-lifetime moment.

Cities prepare for total solar eclipse

The total solar eclipse will chart a 115-mile-wide path of totality across portions of Mexico, the United States and Canada. In the U.S. alone, hundreds of cities and smaller towns in 13 states lie along the path. An estimated 31 million Americans already live on the path, while millions more tourists are already making travel plans – sure to snarl traffic – to catch a glimpse of the total solar eclipse.

When and where is the total solar eclipse?

To find out exactly when the eclipse will be happening in your area, you can use USA TODAY's database by ZIP code for a viewing guide.

When will the next total solar eclipse happen?

It will be 20 years before there's a chance to witness a total solar eclipse in the United States again. According to NASA, after Monday's total solar eclipse, the next one viewable from the contiguous U.S. will be on Aug. 23, 2044.

Unfortunately, the 2044 total solar eclipse won't have the broad reach across the U.S. as the 2024 eclipse. The path of totality during the 2044 eclipse will only touch three states, according to the Planetary Society, a nonprofit involved in research, public outreach and political space advocacy. The eclipse will begin in Greenland, sweep through Canada and end around sunset in Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota.

But another eclipse scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 12, 2045, will trace a path of totality over California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas, Arkansas, Missouri, Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, Florida and Georgia.

Contributing: Doyle Rice, Eric Lagatta, Mary Walrath-Holdridge, USA TODAY

Gabe Hauari is a national trending news reporter at USA TODAY. You can follow him on X @GabeHauari or email him at [email protected].