Where will you be when the total solar eclipse passes right over Columbus?

Take a deep breath. Another solar eclipse has come and gone, with Columbus-area residents sampling only a tiny taste of what those in the “totality” zone experienced from Oregon across the United States to South Carolina.

Here? It was a run-of-the-mill partial eclipse. Those who could travel north and east — to Tennessee or to a small area of Georgia or to South Carolina — were in prime position for what many called a surreal and emotional experience. Happiness, giddy elation and tears of joy were among the inner feelings reported by some total solar eclipse viewers.

“Everybody started hugging each other, and just jumping up and down,” Laura Solomons, a Columbus High School teacher, said of the cosmic moment she and her family and friends witnessed in Athens, Tenn., where 100 percent of the sun was covered by the moon. “My kids were clapping and they were so happy and cheering. It was just a big wave of emotion that came over everybody.”

Total solar eclipses, naturally, are far from routine occurrences. Scientists estimate a specific area of the planet may see one every 375 years or so. Columbus, however, won’t have to wait near that long for its own moment in the moon’s shadow.

Keep those protective glasses tucked away, because it will be a mere six decades before a total solar eclipse moves directly over Columbus and the surrounding area. That means a 20-year-old today will be 81 or so when totality arrives on May 11, 2078.

That total solar eclipse will actually start in the South Pacific Ocean, soaring northeast over Mexico before arriving in Louisiana. New Orleans and Baton Rouge will be in the totality zone, followed by Mobile, Montgomery and Auburn, Ala., then Columbus and LaGrange, Ga. Also experiencing the zen that year will be Atlanta and Macon, much of South Carolina and the eastern half of North Carolina, before the eclipse moves over the Atlantic Ocean.

What’s that? You don’t have faith that you’ll be walking this Earth that many years from now? Then set your sights on March 30, 2052, and prepare to make your hotel reservations for the beach. Again, a total solar eclipse will venture northeast out of the Pacific and over Mexico before the bulk of the totality zone arrives in the Florida Panhandle communities of Pensacola, Destin and Panama City Beach. The sun also will be completely covered in Dothan, Ala., Tallahassee, Fla., Savannah, Ga., and Charleston, S.C., before exiting stage right over the ocean.

Still a little too far out for your life expectancy comfort? Then mark your calendars for Aug. 12, 2045 — only 27 years from now — and be prepared to head south once again, if not west. In fact, you’ll only have to drive a half hour or so down U.S. Highway 431 to just north of Eufaula, Ala., to be in the blackout zone, which will stretch south again to the Gulf Coast.

Overall, the 2045 total solar eclipse will start in the Pacific Ocean, move into northern California, then begin dipping through Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, far southwest Georgia and, finally, Florida. It finishes up over the Caribbean and portions of north and east South America before fading away.

In a bit of irony, it should be a tourism bonanza for “The Sunshine State,” with the moon completely covering the sun in Tallahassee, Tampa, Daytona Beach, Orlando and Miami. Can you imagine the “huge” marketing campaign for that one, particularly at the fantasy land called Disney World and the world-famous Miami Beach? It could be a party for the ages.

This story was originally published August 24, 2017 at 7:14 PM with the headline "Where will you be when the total solar eclipse passes right over Columbus?."