Solar eclipse updates: When is the next total solar eclipse?

As millions of Americans gather to watch the solar eclipse, science teachers have been preparing their students for the historic event.

LaToya Padilla, an earth science teacher at School of the Arts in the Rochester City School District in upstate New York, said she has been talking to her students about the eclipse since October of last year. Rochester is in the path of totality.

"We talked about how it's kind of a once-in-a lifetime experience, we talked about how the last eclipse in Rochester was 99 years ago, and how it might be a whole [other] lifetime before you get to see another eclipse unless you go chasing them, which some people do," she told ABC News.

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How some schools are preparing students for a total solar eclipse

ABC News spoke with a Rochester City School District teacher, LaToya Padilla, on how she is getting her students excited for the once-in-a-lifetime eclipse.

ABCNews.com

Padilla said she taught her students the difference between a partial solar eclipse, which is when the moon only partially covers the sun, and a total solar eclipse, when the moon -- for a short period -- completely blocks the sun.

She also explained the proper eye protection to wear and how when the moon covers the sun, observers will be able to see planets, including Venus and Jupiter, in the sky.

"I feel like it’s very important because you don't want [students] to wait until they're older to realize that missed out on this opportunity," Padilla said. "Even though they might not fully understand what a unique experience it is, talking to them now about it and getting them to understand that it is unique, and you may never experience this again.”

The FAA is stopping some flights from taking off to two small commercial airports due to eclipse volume.

Certain flights headed to Southern Illinois Airport, located in Jackson County, and Veterans Airport of Southern Illinois, located in Williamson County -- both in the path of totality -- are being held at their destinations until at least 12 p.m. ET.

The FAA website indicates that the probability of the ground stop being extended is between 30% and 60%.

-ABC News' Sam Sweeney

The contiguous United States hasn’t seen a total solar eclipse since August 2017, but the seven-year difference between eclipses is "deceptive," Fred Espenak, a former astrophysicist from the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and author of "Road Atlas for the Total Solar Eclipse of 2024," previously told ABC News.

"If you look previous to 2017, the last one was in 1979,” he said. "So, it's a little bit deceptive that these two eclipses were in seven years of each other."

The next total solar eclipse to occur in the contiguous U.S. won't be until August 2044 in Montana and North Dakota, and the next to span coast-to-coast is slated for 2045, according to NASA.

Comparatively, 2024's total solar eclipse is "better" than 2017's, because the path of totality is almost 60% wider and the duration of the eclipse is about 60% longer, according to Espenak, who explained some locations within the path will experience up to four and a half minutes of the eclipse.

-ABC News’ Leah Sarnoff

For seven years, Deb Ross has been helping prepare the city of Rochester, New York, to welcome thousands of visitors for the total solar eclipse.

Rochester, which is in the path of totality, is expecting between 300,000 and 500,000 visitors and to earn between $10 million and $12 million over eclipse weekend.

"I think probably I was little over the top, so maybe people were saying, 'Seven years out, really Deb? Six years out, five years out, this a little early, isn't it?'" Ross told ABC News. "But the fact is pulling all these folks together and working for something that's going to happen far in the future for three minutes and 38 seconds, that is a kind of wacky proposition. But it was really fun, and everybody just jumped right on board."

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Rochester resident describes years of planning for eclipse

Debra Ross, chair of the Rochester Eclipse Task Force, says she has been a part of planning for the total solar eclipse for almost seven years.

ABCNews.com

As chair of the Rochester Eclipse Task Force, Ross has recruited the local government, museums, small businesses and even the local transportation council to make the event memorable for visitors by creating eclipse-themed events, food and merchandise.

"We've had practice runs, we've had a lot of meetings to get at the nitty gritty, and I've been able to be part of those and watching everybody here play so beautifully together in this sandbox," she said. "I think what we'll be doing here on Monday, April 8. is converting hundreds of thousands of skeptics into eclipse chasers."