An August solar eclipse will sweep across the United States and offer an unprecedented number of Americans the chance to see a total solar eclipse.
Total solar eclipses typically occur every year or two, but many of them don’t come across North America, with the viewing path being over water, desert, or other remote places that make it hard to view.
The path of totality of this year’s solar eclipse, however, goes diagonally across the United States, NBC reported, starting in Oregon around 10:16 a.m. Pacific time and ending up in South Carolina at 2:49 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, which is only a time span of 90 minutes.
"It's the first [total solar eclipse] to grace the continental United States since 1979 and the first to run from sea to shining sea since 1918," said NBC.
Tyler Nordgren, an astronomer at the University of Redlands, expects the eclipse to be the most photographed “and shared event in human history,” he told NBC.
“Not since the space program, not since the moon landing, do I think that there has been a moment of shared joy, awe, and wonder as to what is going to happen this summer,” he said.
According to Eclipse 2017, it is the first time an eclipse has been over this continent since 1979, and hotel rooms and lodges in national parks have been booked along the path of totality for years. Still, if you can’t get to the path to see it directly, it will be recorded and shown online.
Twitter is already abuzz with excitement.
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