Rhode Island will be treated to a partial solar eclipse on the afternoon of Monday, August 21st.

A NASA statement said the eclipse will be visible across all of North America, weather permitting. The entire continent will experience a partial eclipse lasting two to three hours.

Anyone within the 70-mile-wide path that stretches through fourteen states from Oregon to South Carolina will experience a total eclipse, arguably nature’s most awe inspiring sight. During those brief moments — when the moon completely blocks the sun’s bright face for about two minutes — the day will turn into night, making visible the otherwise hidden solar corona, the sun’s outer atmosphere.

Rhode Island will still see a partial solar eclipse where the moon covers part of the sun’s disk.

The Newport area will experience an 65.75% percent partial eclipse that will begin at 1:28:30 pm, the maximum eclipse take place at 2:47:53 pm and the partial eclipse will end at 4:01:18 pm.

To see what time your area will experience the eclipse, visit this interactive map.

The first point of contact will be at Lincoln Beach, Oregon at 9:05 a.m. PDT. Totality begins there at 10:16 a.m. PDT.  Over the next hour and a half, it will cross through Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, and North and South Carolina.  The total eclipse will end near Charleston, South Carolina at 2:48 p.m. EDT.  From there the lunar shadow leaves the United States at 4:09 EDT.  Its longest duration will be near Carbondale, Illinois, where the sun will be completely covered for two minutes and 40 seconds.

The last total eclipse in the United States occurred on Feb. 26, 1979. The last total eclipse that crossed the entire continent occurred on June 8, 1918. The last time a total solar eclipse occurred exclusively in the U.S. was in 1778.

Experiencing a total solar eclipse where you live happens on average about once in 375 years. About 12.2 million Americans live in the path of the total eclipse.

NASA reminds all that you never want to look directly at the sun without appropriate protection except during totality.  That could severely hurt your eyes.  However, there are many ways to safely view an eclipse of the sun including direct viewing – which requires some type of filtering device and indirect viewing where you project an image of the sun onto a screen. Both methods should produce clear images of the partial phase of an eclipse.  Click here for eclipse viewing techniques and safety.

For more information, visit https://eclipse2017.nasa.gov/.