Two weeks until total solar eclipse goes coast to coast

Event begins in Washington state Aug. 21, ends in South Carolina. 

It’s been 99 years since a total solar eclipse crossed the U.S.

Aug. 21, the event will go coast to coast.

Astronomer Bob Allen from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse has trekked to view eclipses in the past and calls it an “unearthly experience,” where time might seem to stand still.

“The key to this one is, it’s the first one to go coast to coast with totalities in 99 years,” he said. “In 1979, I led a busload of 30 into Canada. It came across Washington state, it entered there and left at North Dakota.”

Allen says this will be a short eclipse, only a couple of minutes at its peak.

In La Crosse, about 85 percent of the sun will be covered by the moon during the peak time around 1 p.m.

NASA has everything you need to know about the eclipse: Who, what, where, when, why and how, by clicking here.

There are also maps here, for anyone planning on taking a trip to view the event, which starts in Oregon and crosses southern Illinois, where it will be closest to Wisconsin residents, and ends South Carolina – unless you have a boat in the ocean.