Total Solar Eclipse on August 1: Where, How to See It

Solar eclipses have been blamed in the past for war, famine, and the deaths of kings. But the upcoming total eclipse on August 1 will mostly be celebrated by excited sky-watchers—even if it won’t break any records.

The sun will be completely obscured for just under two and a half minutes, “a tad on the short side,” according to astrophysicist Fred Espenak, an eclipse expert based at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.

A typical eclipse lasts for three minutes, Espenak said, and the longest possible is seven and a half minutes.

When it starts, this year’s full eclipse will be visible from a narrow arc spanning the Northern Hemisphere.

Its path will begin in Canada and continue northeast across Greenland and the Arctic, then southeast through central Russia, Mongolia, and China.

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(Full Article + Video: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news)