An amazing chance to witness a rare total solar eclipse is coming up fast. Today, hundreds of thousands of people will try to get in the path of totality. Here' s everything you need to know about this rare celestial event.
An amazing chance to witness a rare event is coming up fast — the first full solar eclipse in nearly a century, whose path of totality stays completely in the U. S., will stretch coast to coast today. It will also be the first in the Lower 48 states in 38 years. The sun, moon and Earth will line up perfectly on Monday, turning day into night for a few minutes from Oregon to South Carolina. A partial eclipse will extend up through Canada and down to the top of South America. The total eclipse on Aug. 21 will last just 1 1/2 hours as the lunar shadow sweeps across the country. NASA says, «This animation closely follows the Moon’s umbra shadow as it passes over the United States during the August 21,2017 total solar eclipse. Through the use of a number of NASA datasets, notably the global elevation maps from Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, the shape and location of the shadow is depicted with unprecedented accuracy.»
