Spring has sprung, and with it, the sun is about to pull another disappearing act across North America, turning day into night during a total solar eclipse.

The peak spectacle on April 8 will last up to 4 minutes, 28 seconds in the path of total darkness — twice as long as the total solar eclipse that dimmed U.S. skies in 2017, The Associated Press reported.

This eclipse will take a different and more populated route, entering over Mexico’s Pacific coast, dashing up through Texas and Oklahoma, and crisscrossing the Midwest, mid-Atlantic and New England, before exiting over eastern Canada into the Atlantic.

An estimated 44 million people live inside the 115-mile-wide path of totality stretching from Mazatlan, Mexico to Newfoundland; about 32 million of them are in the U.S., guaranteeing jammed roads for the must-see celestial sensation.

The eclipse will allow many to share in the “wonder of the universe without going very far,” said NASA’s eclipse program manager Kelly Korreck.

According to the AP story, the eclipse will be barely visible in Tennessee and Michigan. However, if you and your family are planning to view the eclipse, NASA has some safety tips for you to follow.

Its website, science.nasa.gov, states that viewers should:

≤ Only look at the sun through eclipse glasses or a handheld solar viewer during the partial eclipse phases before and after totality.

≤ You can view the eclipse directly without proper eye protection only when the moon completely obscures the sun’s bright face — during the brief and spectacular period known as totality. (You’ll know it’s safe when you can no longer see any part of the sun through eclipse glasses or a solar viewer.)

≤ As soon as you see even a little bit of the bright sun reappear after totality, immediately put your eclipse glasses back on or use a handheld solar viewer to look at the sun.

≤ And by a cosmic stroke of luck, the moon will make the month’s closest approach to Earth the day before the total solar eclipse. That puts the moon just 223,000 miles away on eclipse day.

The moon will appear slightly bigger in the sky thanks to that proximity, resulting in an especially long period of sun-blocked darkness.

What’s more, the Earth and moon will be 93 million miles from the sun that day, the average distance.

When a closer moon pairs up with a more distant sun, totality can last as long as an astounding 7 1/2 minutes. The last time the world saw more than seven minutes of totality was in 1973 over Africa. That won’t happen again until 2150 over the Pacific.

Viewers should be reminded that, in terms of looking at the eclipse, sunglasses won’t cut it. Special eclipse glasses are crucial for safely observing the sun as the moon marches across the late morning and afternoon sky, covering more and more and then less and less of our star.

We advise that Yoopers take the opportunity to watch this cosmic event — after all, there won’t be another U.S. eclipse, spanning coast to coast, until 2045. That one will stretch from Northern California all the way to Cape Canaveral, Florida — so, nowhere near us.

For detailed information on totality percentages and times in your area, visit science.nasa.gov/eclipses/future-eclipses/eclipse-2024/where-when/