The dark shadow of the moon — the umbra — will first touch the Earth's surface far out over the North Pacific Ocean, nearly 1,000 miles south of Alaska's Aleutian Islands, at 9:48 a.m. local time. For 27 minutes, the umbra will sweep rapidly to the east over the ocean.
Finally, the umbra will arrive along the coast of Oregon at 10:15 a.m. local time.
From there, the moon's shadow is going to race from coast to coast across the United States. That's a distance of almost 2,500 miles, from Oregon to South Carolina,and it will take the umbra just 94 minutes to travel that distance.
That works out to nearly 27 miles per minute (43 km/minute), or about 1,600 mph (2,574 km/h) — about three times faster than a commercial jetliner. That's why, along the path of totality, the sun will appear completely covered for no more than 160 seconds.
Anyone within the path of totality can see one of nature’s most awe-inspiring sights - a total solar eclipse. This path, where the moon will completely cover the sun and the sun's tenuous atmosphere - the corona - can be seen, will stretch from Lincoln Beach, Oregon to Charleston, South Carolina. Observers outside this path will still see a partial solar eclipse where the moon covers part of the sun's disk.
You can find more information from NASA and Space.com. Please enjoy the following booklist about the sun and cosmic phenomena!
Swing by our Online Reading Resources!
Interested in more readalikes? Check out the Sherlock Holmes Universe!
Home grown in the Land of Enchantment!
Interested in more horror titles? Check out Monster Mashups!
