The claim: Eclipse crosses seven cities named Ninevah, crosses 2017 eclipse path in 'Little Egypt, Illinois’
A March 29 Facebook post (direct link, archive link) shows a map of the U.S. with the paths of totality for the total solar eclipses in 2017 and 2024 and the annular eclipse in 2023.
“Not only does the solar eclipse April 8th go thru 7 cities called NINEVAH, it crosses the one from 2017 in a town called LITTLE EGYPT, IL (sic),” reads part of the post's caption, which goes on to make the case that those locations show a biblical connection to the eclipse event.
The post was shared more than 1,800 times in a week.
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Our rating: Partly false
This attempt to link the eclipse to biblical locations whiffs on the details. There are two Ninevehs, not seven, inside the April 8 eclipse's path of totality that is shown in the post. The other five Ninevahs will just see a partial eclipse, like nearly all of the continental U.S. The eclipse paths do cross in “Little Egypt,” but that's a large region, not a town.
Two Ninevehs lie in April 8 path of totality; no Illinois town named 'Little Egypt'
The first total solar eclipse to pass over the U.S. since 2017 takes place April 8. Its path of totality – where the sun will be completely blocked as the moon moves between it and Earth – crosses 13 states from Texas to Maine.
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The image shown in the post is a clear reference to the April 8 path of totality – with a thin yellow line marking the 115-mile-wide swath – along with totality paths from two past eclipses.
The Eclipse2024.org website lists municipalities that will experience the total solar eclipse and includes seven places across the U.S. named “Nineveh.” But only two fall in the path of totality: Nineveh, Indiana, and Nineveh, Ohio. Five others – in New York, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Texas and Kentucky – will see a partial eclipse.
Four more Ninevahs are not listed on the eclipse site but do appear on the National Weather Service's list, with two in Missouri, and one in Pennsylvania and New York. None are in the totality path, a searchable U.S. eclipse map published by the NWS in Texas shows.
The post also wrongly claims the April 8 path of totality intersects with the one from the 2017 total solar eclipse in a town named Little Egypt, Illinois. There is no such town. Rather, “Little Egypt” is the nickname for a section of Illinois that includes Carbondale and its surrounding area. Its definition has ranged from the southern half of the state to a group of fewer than 20 counties, according to Mississippi Valley Traveler.
The 2017 and 2024 totality paths cross in an area that spans parts of Missouri and Kentucky, as well as portions of the "Little Egypt" region in Illinois, according to nationaleclipse.com.
The April 8 eclipse has spawned a significant amount of misinformation online. Among the claims USA TODAY has debunked are assertions that the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the National Guard had never before been mobilized for a solar eclipse and that the Earth, moon and sun are not scheduled to be aligned that day.
USA TODAY reached out to the Facebook user who shared the post but did not immediately receive a response.
Lead Stories also debunked a version of the claim.
Our fact-check sources:
- National Weather Service (Internet Archive), accessed April 5, NWS List of Ninevehs
- Eclipse2024, accessed April 5, Eclipse Community Page for Nineveh, Indiana
- Eclipse2024, accessed April 5, The 2024 eclipse in Nineveh, Ohio, USA
- Eclipse2024, accessed April 5, The 2024 eclipse in Nineveh, New York, USA
- Eclipse2024, accessed April 5, The 2024 eclipse in Nineveh, Virginia, USA
- Eclipse2024, accessed April 5, The 2024 eclipse in Nineveh, Texas, USA
- Eclipse2024, accessed April 5, The 2024 eclipse in Nineveh, Pennsylvania, USA
- Eclipse2024, accessed April 5, The 2024 eclipse in Nineveh, Kentucky, USA
- National Weather Service (Internet Archive), accessed April 5, Nineveh MO Adair Co
- National Weather Service (Internet Archive), accessed April 5, Nineveh MO Lincoln Co
- National Weather Service (Internet Archive), accessed April 5, Nineveh PA Greene Co
- National Weather Service (Internet Archive), accessed April 5, Nineveh Junction NY
- Mississippi Valley Traveler, Dec. 8, 2018, Illinois’ Little Egypt
- Carbondale, Illinois, accessed April 5, Meet Our Town
- National Eclipse, accessed April 5, Eclipse Maps
- CBS News, April 5, NASA estimates 99 percent of Americans will see the sun covered, at least partially, during Monday's
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