Why is the eclipse unusual?

Answer 1

An eclipse requires the earth moon and sun to be very close to a straight line and that is not a frequent occurrence - particularly because the plane of the lunar orbit around the earth is not he same as the plane of the earth's orbit around the sun.

Answer 2

There are solar eclipses once or twice every year, and there is nothing unusual about the recent eclipse. It happened to pass through the United States, so that made it interesting to people living there.