As it happened: Solar Eclipse 2017

Summary

A total solar eclipse will sweep across the US, from Oregon to South Carolina
It's the first such eclipse to go from the west to east coasts of the US in 100 years
Experts warn never to look directly at the Sun with the naked eye
Several cities are near or on the path of totality, including St Louis, Nashville and Charleston
The eclipse makes landfall in Oregon at 17:16 GMT and leaves the US in South Carolina 18:48 GMT

Live Reporting

Jonathan Amos, Paul Rincon, Max Matza and Vicky Baker

Extraordinary space station photospublished at 19:29 British Summer Time 21 August 2017
It may look like this Nasa photographer has forgotten to clean the camera lens, but look again. Those tiny dots are the space station transiting the Sun during the eclipse.
Nasa stitched seven frames together to form this remarkable picture.
This Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser.View original content on Twitter
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
Skip twitter post
Allow Twitter content?
This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
End of twitter post
Hey Washington Post, u ok hun?published at 19:19 British Summer Time 21 August 2017
Meanwhile, the Washington Post is live-streaming footage , externalfrom a farm in Tennessee, to see if its goats faint during the eclipse.
It has also done a piece on the best places to watch the eclipse with a goat, external.
"You can find uncommonly high concentrations of eclipse goats near the Georgia/South Carolina/North Carolina border, as well as in central Tennessee," it says.
Are eclipse goats a thing now?
Sorry, we're having trouble displaying this content.View original content on Facebook
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Facebook content may contain adverts.
Everything stops for this showpublished at 19:15 British Summer Time 21 August 2017
Covering politics in DC right now must be a full-on job. But you can always spare a few minutes to catch this spectacle.
Image source, Reuters
Image caption,
Members of the media watch the solar eclipse at the White House
A perfect skypublished at 19:13 British Summer Time 21 August 2017
The Sun seen in full eclipse over Grand Teton National Park. Just wow!
Image source, Getty Images
An amazing moment for one BBC broadcaster in Wyomingpublished at 19:03 British Summer Time 21 August 2017
This Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser.View original content on Twitter
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
Skip twitter post
Allow Twitter content?
This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
End of twitter post
This Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser.View original content on Twitter
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
Skip twitter post 2
Allow Twitter content?
This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
End of twitter post 2
Pin-hole method demonstratedpublished at 18:59 British Summer Time 21 August 2017
Hadi Nili, external, from the BBC's Persian service, is using the holes in the roof of a shed in Kentucky to try out the pin-hole method of viewing the eclipse.
This Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser.View original content on Twitter
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
Skip twitter post
Allow Twitter content?
This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
End of twitter post
The BBC never takes breaks...published at 18:59 British Summer Time 21 August 2017
Our engineers probably had important work to do among the satellite dishes on the roof of the US bureau.
This Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser.View original content on Twitter
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
Skip twitter post
Allow Twitter content?
This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
End of twitter post
First for 700 yearspublished at 18:58 British Summer Time 21 August 2017
This is the first total solar eclipse to make exclusive landfall in the territory now known as the USA since 13 June 1257 - more than 700 years ago!
The path of totality passed right over the areas inhabited by the Ancestral Puebloan culture, which flourished in the Four Corners area of the American South-West. This civilisation built strikingly advanced multi-storey buildings of stone and mud surrounding open plazas.
We can only imagine what they thought of it - but there's evidence from artefacts and the construction plans of their houses that the Ancestral Puebloans had an understanding of astronomy.
The path of totality travelled in a neat east-west arc, making landfall in what is now California, passing through the present-day states of Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri and Kentucky, before leaving the landmass in North Carolina.
Image source, AFP
Uh oh, Nasa is at war with itselfpublished at 18:47 British Summer Time 21 August 2017
Nasa's Moon account just got feisty and the Sun is fighting back.
This Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser.View original content on Twitter
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
Skip twitter post
Allow Twitter content?
This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
End of twitter post
This Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser.View original content on Twitter
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
Skip twitter post 2
Allow Twitter content?
This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
End of twitter post 2
The eclipse can be seen from coast-to-coastpublished at 18:43 British Summer Time 21 August 2017
The view in Charleston is a bit cloudy, but the eclipse has begun there too.
In Washington DC, onlookers are gazing out of their office buildings upwards at the Sun as they press cardboard glasses to their faces.
This Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser.View original content on Twitter
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
Skip twitter post
Allow Twitter content?
This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
End of twitter post
It's only just begunpublished at 18:42 British Summer Time 21 August 2017
So, the US mainland has experienced "totality" in Oregon and now the solar eclipse is making its way right across the country. Stay tuned.
Image caption,
The route of the total eclipse across the Americas
Watch the the world turn dark in less than a minute! AMAZING!!!published at 18:42 British Summer Time 21 August 2017
This Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser.View original content on Twitter
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
Skip twitter post
Allow Twitter content?
This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
End of twitter post
Ivanka Trump rocks the latest fashionpublished at 18:29 British Summer Time 21 August 2017
The US president's daughter just tweeted this image, apparently from the White House, with her newest pair of shades.
This Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser.View original content on Twitter
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
Skip twitter post
Allow Twitter content?
This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
End of twitter post
Standing by for plants to come to life... just joking!published at 18:29 British Summer Time 21 August 2017
Lots of Twitter users are making jokes about the movie Little Shop of Horrors, where a plant comes to life during a solar eclipse and unleashes horticultural terror.
This Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser.View original content on Twitter
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
Skip twitter post
Allow Twitter content?
This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
End of twitter post
This Instagram post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser.View original content on Instagram
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
Skip instagram post
Allow Instagram content?
This article contains content provided by Instagram. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Meta’s Instagram cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
End of instagram post
And there it goes!published at 18:18 British Summer Time 21 August 2017
That's it, folks. Live images of the total eclipse from Oregon!
Image caption,
The total eclipse hits Oregon
'I can always go to another Super Bowl'published at 18:13 British Summer Time 21 August 2017
The BBC's Nada Tawfik is speaking to some adventure seekers in Hopkinsville, Kentucky who are celebrating their anniversary with this once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Shane Simmons from Taylor, Texas says he and his wife are "in the perfect spot in the universe" to view today's events, adding that he's been to a Super Bowl, but this is different because its once-in-a-lifetime.
"I can always go to another Super Bowl," the Shane says.
BTW, your pets eyes need protecting too!published at 18:13 British Summer Time 21 August 2017
Friendly reminder - your pets will also get hurt if they look directly at the Sun.
So maybe don't dangle that doggie biscuit over your pup's head for the next few hours.
Image source, Getty Images
Edging closer ... Watch live on Facebookpublished at 18:12 British Summer Time 21 August 2017
Here are how things are looking at Depoe Bay in Oregon right now. Less than five minutes until totality. You can watch the live images on the BBC's Facebook page, external.
Image caption,
The view in Oregon
Spoiler alert, East Coastpublished at 18:12 British Summer Time 21 August 2017
Onlookers in the western parts of the US are giving away loads of spoilers to those Americans on the East Coast still waiting for a glimpse of the eclipse.
Although it hasn't reached totality yet, the air temperature in Texas is dropping as the Sun begins to hide behind the Moon.
It's a safe bet that nobody there is complaining, as the average temperature today is around 33 Celsius (92F).
This Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser.View original content on Twitter
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
Skip twitter post
Allow Twitter content?
This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
End of twitter post
Are you watching? Get in touch.published at 18:01 British Summer Time 21 August 2017
Are you watching the eclipse? Tell us what you can see.
You can email haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk or contact us on WhatsApp +44 (0)7555 173285.
Upload photos and videos by clicking this link - bbcnewsupload.streamuk.com/ , external
You can also tweet us at @BBC_HaveYourSay.