Reminder: Even a partial eclipse can do serious and permanent damage to the eyes. Don’t allow children outside during the eclipse or even leave a baby in a stroller as it can damage their eyesight. That damage is typically irreversible, and there’s no treatment for it.
After weeks of anticipation, the sight of the moon’s shadow passing directly in front of the sun, blotting out all but the halo-like solar corona, will draw one of the largest audiences in human history, experts say.
When those watching via social and broadcast media are included, the spectacle will likely smash records.
Some 12 million people live in the 70-mile-wide (113-km-wide), 2,500-mile-long (4,000-km-long) zone where the total eclipse will appear on Monday. Millions of others have traveled to spots along the route to bask in its full glory.
The phenomenon will first appear at 10:15 a.m. PDT (6:15 BST) near Depoe Bay, Oregon. Some 94 minutes later, at 2:49 p.m. EDT (7:49 BST), totality will take its final bow near Charleston, South Carolina.
The last time such a spectacle unfolded from the Pacific to the Atlantic coast was in 1918. The last total eclipse seen anywhere in the United States took place in 1979.
For millions of others who can’t get there, a partial eclipse of the sun will appear throughout North America if there is no local cloud cover.
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