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The Great American Eclipse is getting underway.
A huge shadow cast by the Moon as it passes in front of the Sun has just touched the Earth some 2,400km west of North America in the Pacific Ocean.
Over the course of the next three hours, it will track around the globe, cutting across the US from Oregon in the west to South Carolina in the east.
It is the first total solar eclipse visible from America’s lower 48 states in 38 years.
It is also the first such event since 1918 where the path of darkness will traverse both the Pacific and Atlantic coasts, and the first total solar eclipse to make landfall exclusively in the US since independence in 1776.
Millions of Americans have been on the move, attempting to get into a position where they can best view the event.
Small towns in the 14 states on the “path of totality” have been inundated with visitors. So too have the National Parks.
People directly in the path, and blessed with clear skies, will witness our star’s light blocked out for up to two minutes and 40 seconds.
Those who stand off to the side will experience a partial eclipse, which on this occasion will encompass all of North America and northern parts of South America.
There are even parts of Western Europe, including the UK and Ireland, that will snatch a sight of the Moon’s disc taking a bite out of the Sun just as it sets.
Wherever people watch the drama unfold, they are urged to take care. Looking directly at the Sun with the naked eye can be dangerous.
Many commentators believe Monday’s eclipse will prove to be the most observed, most photographed, and best documented such event in human history.
It will certainly challenge the numbers that saw the 2009 eclipse that swept across India and China.
The US, of course, has excellent transport connections, and this will help many people get into a good position.
As it is, more than 12 million people live in the 115km-wide (70 miles) path of totality.
Nearly four times that many live within a two-hour’s drive, and over 200 million live within a day’s drive.
State and local authorities have prepared for Monday as if they were about to confront the fallout from some natural disaster.
Carbondale in Illinois billed itself as the “Eclipse Crossroads of America” because it is in the path of darkness both on Monday and when the next US eclipse occurs in 2024.
As anticipated, it has proved to be a magnet for visitors who have been making good use of the more than 60,000 extra car parking spaces organised for the day.
Many skywatchers were expected to wait until as late as possible before deciding where to go, based on up-to-date weather forecasts.
Many of those who planned years and months ahead consulted historical weather data.
This information suggested the highest probability of clear skies would be in the northwest. Madras in Oregon, with its 70% probability of cloud-free conditions, was another go-to destination.
The “eclipse show” for land-dwellers begins on the Oregon coast at 09:05 local time (16:05 GMT; 17:05 BST) when skywatchers saw the Moon start to traverse the Sun.
Totality will be reached at 10:16 (17:16 GMT; 18:16 BST). The Sun’s light will be completely blocked out for one minute and 59 seconds.
The Moon’s shadow then races across the continent – through Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina. It is a journey that takes roughly 90 minutes.
The place that will experience the longest period of totality (2 mins, 40 sec) is about 10km south of the city of Carbondale, Illinois.
The Atlantic coastal city of Charleston will say goodbye to the eclipse. It experiences totality at 14:47 local time (18:47 GMT; 19:47 BST).
It is around this time that Europeans will be catching their partial view of the event.
Ireland, Northern Ireland, northern England and Scotland see a brief partial eclipse.
In Belfast, for example, this partial starts at 19:37 BST and ends at 20:23 BST.
Southern England sees the Moon start to take a chunk out of the Sun just as it goes over the horizon.
Skywatchers will want to make for high ground and pray that any cloud clears just at the right moment.
Culled from BBC News