LIVE STREAM - Total Solar Eclipse of the sun 8/21/17 Solar Eclipse 2017 live Watch Live: total solar eclipse of the sun today july 21, 2017 live: solar eclipse 2017 livestream: solar eclipse 2017 The great American solar eclipse is finally here America woke up Monday ready to turn its eyes to the sky. The day of the Great American Eclipse had finally arrived. But even as celestial bodies moved to align in the sky, terrestrial-bound bodies were scurrying in a mad last-minute scramble for the best vantage points to witness it. Procrastinators dashed from store to store in search of eclipse-safe glasses. Scientists nervously checked and rechecked their equipment at observatories and research airplanes across the country. Authorities braced for still more traffic as millions converged along the 70-mile-wide path of the total eclipse. For millennia, on days just like this one, our ancestors have been filled with awe, fear and wonder. solar Eclipses have spawned myths, altered belief systems, reshaped the way entire civilizations saw their world. On Monday, many were looking for something similarly profound as they broke out lawn chairs, dragged their children outside and clutched their safety glasses in giddy expectation. [‘20 seconds of burning’: Friends partly blinded after watching solar eclipse warn of dangers] As it approached, this eclipse seemed different, more intimate somehow. It will be the first in a century to cross the continental United States, coast to coast, and the first since the republic’s foundation that will pass directly over only this country. It felt — at a time of political division and upheaval — like a personally addressed note from the universe: Hey, America, forget the other stuff for a second. There are bigger things in this galaxy. That overshadow us. That can unite us. Just look up. The physics behind the eclipse are quite simple. Today, following a course charted before the dawn of history, the moon will pass between the sun and Earth and cast a shadow onto a wide swath of land. At 10:15 a.m. Pacific time, the shadow of that total eclipse will first make landfall on the tiny town of Depoe Bay, Ore. (population 1,398). From there, at a screaming speed of 2,100 mph, the eclipse’s shadow will zip across America on a 3,000-mile path, cutting through Idaho, Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, North Carolina. Finally at 2:49 p.m. Eastern time, it will disappear off the coast of Charleston, S.C. The whole thing — the wonder, beauty, craning of necks and searching of souls — will be over from coast to coast in just 90 minutes. [In totality’s path, eclipse mania overshadows fears of Eclipsemageddon — for now] Even people not on that path, however, will see a partial eclipse of the sun — like a cookie with a bite taken out of it. The closer you are to the path of the total eclipse, the bigger that shadow will be. Veteran solar eclipse-chasers — the same ones who have been nagging us for weeks to secure eclipse glasses (they have darker filters and are absolutely necessary to avoid eye damage) — describe the experience in almost apocalyptic, rapturelike terms. The sky darkens. The temperature drops. And where the sun should be, people will see instead a black circle, ringed by a halo of light. That halo, called the sun’s corona, consists of a writhing mass of exceedingly hot gas in the sun’s atmosphere, invisible under normal circumstances. Mike Kentrianakis, solar eclipse manager for the American Astronomical Society, calls it “the most gorgeous natural wonder you will ever see.” “It unlocks you,” said Kentrianakis, who has witnessed 20 eclipses across the world. “It is so visceral. It is the meaning of the word awe, awe-struck.” For many Americans, this may be their best shot at seeing a total solar eclipse in their lifetime. About 12 million people live along its path, and many millions more are flocking there. On Monday, frustrating weather in some parts sent would-be watchers on last-minute road trips. Clouds were forecast in the Southeast, especially around Charleston, and throughout the Midwest. The West was faring better, but smoke and haze was causing concern in parts of Oregon. Watch this space for our LIVE coverage of the total solar eclipse on August 21, 2017! Starting at 15:30 UTC (see corresponding US times: https://www.timeanddate.com/worldcloc...), we will bring you live footage from multiple locations and real-time updates about the current location of the eclipse shadow and the progress of the eclipse in the US and worldwide.