This time round we have Bonnie Tyler providing the non-official soundtrack, but if you turn around back to 1999, it was the Pet Shop Boys. They created a song for Radio One especially for the European eclipse.

Here's some highly excited coverage of the moment ...

We spoke to some Nasa scientists, who tested our glasses to confirm they were safe.

Hopefully the US doesn't get another massive news story today, which could eclipse the eclipse, as clever pun-writers in newsrooms across the US are joking to each other at this very moment.

"To eclipse", as a verb, is defined by Dictionary.com as "to make less outstanding or important by comparison; surpass".

The word "trump", as a verb, is a synonym for eclipse, also meaning "to surpass".

Let's hope there is no interruption from the US president, Donald Trump, or any other news maker today.

If you missed it you can still catch Prof Frank Close's radio programme on the World Service about eclipses. Called Darkness At Noon, it went out on Sunday but it's now available to listen again on the iPlayer.

Frank takes us through the history of eclipses, the myths that surround them and the important science they've made possible.

But for sheer joy, listen to the end of the show where the American astronomer Mike Kentrianakis commentates on the 8 March, 2016, total solar eclipse, which he saw from an aeroplane.

As well as the millions on the ground who'll be watching the eclipse, there are quite a few spacecraft in orbit that will be trained on today's events. We'll post some of their images later in the day.

This is one for the future, however - Solar Orbiter.

The European Space Agency mission is being assembled in the UK and will be despatched from Earth in early 2019 to study the Sun.

It will go inside the orbit of Mercury where it will need more than a pair of eclipse glasses to keep from being fried. It will peep at the Sun from behind a big shield.

Among the many millions looking forward to the eclipse, some who'll be watching a little more nervously than most will be the operators of around 1,900 utility-scale solar power plants in the US.

Only 17 in eastern Oregon will be in the path of totality, but hundreds of plants in North Carolina and Georgia will be at least 90% obscured. The dip in power from the darkening of the Sun will be rapidly followed a few minutes later by a surge as the eclipse passes over.

However a network crash and power cuts are said to be unlikely. In Germany, which has one of the world's biggest installed networks of solar power, the electricity network survived a huge loss and gain of sunlight in an eclipse in 2015.

That event cut off between 65-80% of the sunlight available - but engineers had done their homework, backup systems were in place and the network remained in balance. It's expected that a similar scenario will play out in the US today.

California is one of the main concerns with 8.8 gigwatts of solar power, around 40% of the US total, installed. It's expected to lose around half of that during the eclipse but the California independent system operator says they will replace it with power from natural gas and hydropower.

Solar researchers say the eclipse provides an excellent opportunity to test the resilience of networks and allows them to practice for the time when the power of the Sun plays will play an even bigger part in the US energy mix.

"I'm actually hoping for a bright, sunny day," Ken Seiler from PJM Interconnection told the New York Times. The company oversees the power grid for 65 million people in the mid-atlantic region.

A sharp fall and rise in solar power he said, "will really help us validate our models."

Image source, Getty Images

Historian Michael Beschloss has tweeted a New York Times article from 1932 that looked forward to this day.

Readers were warned that unless they caught that total eclipse - which clipped the north-eastern United States and Canada - they would have to wait all the way until 2017.

It's not all about the United States. The eclipse should also be visible in various parts of Latin America. BBC Mundo has a list of all the timings and best locations (in Spanish), from Mexico to Brazil.

Although it won't reach as far south as Argentina and Chile, they have their own solar eclipse to look forward to on 2 July 2019.

Image source, Getty Images

Millions of Americans along the East Coast have flocked to South Carolina, where the Sun and Moon will put on their show starting at 14:36 EDT.

The state's largest newspaper, The Post and Courier, went with a front page photo of a group of scientists preparing to launch a balloon with video equipment attached.

The president's primetime speech tonight, and the ship collision in the Pacific Ocean are both below the fold on a day like today.

Image source, Newseum

But for the smaller Index-Journal, external, the eclipse takes up the entire front page.

Image source, Newseum

The BBC's Laura Trevelyan, external has sent us this photo from Johnny J's diner in Casper, Wyoming, where she will be broadcasting live coverage of the eclipse.

So besides Laura, who is from England, where is the furthest away specators have come from?

We can see Spain and Canada on this list.

And over in Kentucky, our colleague Nada Tawfik is meeting even more international travellers.

Sorry to be a buzzkill, but not much work might get done today in the States.

Outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas estimates about $694m (£538m) in missing output as employees take a stroll, stretch their legs and gaze into the heavens.

They predict that 87 million Americans will be at work when the nearly two-and-a-half minute eclipse passes overhead.

Most will step outside for about 20 minutes, and others might stay out longer to set up telescopes, or maybe a picnic blanket.

But many more have simply taken the day off.

The researchers add that this is nothing in comparison to sports events such as the Monday after the Super Bowl, when $290m is lost for every 10 minutes that employees spend time talking about the American football game.

Here at Cosmic HQ in London it's been a wet old morning and thick cloud hangs over the capital. But let's dream for a minute and imagine it's a beautiful clear August day.

The UK, along with other parts of western Europe, are in position to catch a partial eclipse at, or just before, sunset. Essentially, Northern Ireland, Northern England and Scotland see the Sun eat a small segment in the bottom-left of the Sun's disc.

If you're in southern England, you get to see the start of this lunar meal, but not the end of it - because the Sun then goes over the horizon. A great place to watch might have been the top of the Shard. You can but dream.

Image source, RAS

Let’s talk timings. What’s termed “totality” describes the 115km-wide (70 miles) deep shadow that races across the surface of the Earth as the Moon slips in front of the Sun.

This shadow first touches down in the North Pacific and takes almost half an hour to reach the Oregon coast. They should be whooping in places like Newport and Lincoln City at 10:16 Pacific Daylight Time (17:16 UTC; 18:16 BST).

The Moon's shadow then sweeps across the continent through 13 more states (less than two square kilometres of the extreme southwest of Iowa is in the path) - a journey that will take 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. That happens at 13:21 Central Daylight Time (18:21 GMT; 19:21 BST).

The last region in the path of deepest shadow is South Carolina. The Atlantic coastal city of Charleston experiences its eclipse at 14:47 Eastern Daylight Time (18:47 GMT; 19:47 BST).

There are umpteen calculators out there you can use. Here’s the one produced by timeanddate.com, external

The BBC's Nada Tawfik, external is in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, where excitement has been building for weeks.

Residents say that the solar eclipse has really put the town, now dubbed "Eclipseville", on the map.

Image source, Getty Images

The Sun has risen over Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming, and over huge queues of cars waiting to enter the park.

The park has said that today might be its busiest day in history. Possibly. What do you think?

Well, the weather can be on eclipse day. Many skywatchers will have waited until as late as possible before deciding where to go, based on up-to-date forecasts. Many of those who planned months ahead would have consulted historical weather data.

This archived information suggested the highest probability of clear skies would be in the northwest. That is why Madras in Oregon is much talked about.

The time of year and its position leeward of the Cascade Mountains means it should expect a more than 70% chance of an unobstructed view of the eclipse. In contrast, the further east along the path of totality, the higher the historical probability of cloud.

And the latest forecasts certainly seemed to support this thinking.

Google and UC Berkeley are creating a movie, external from images of the solar eclipse. The pictures will also be used to study the Sun's outermost atmosphere, known as the Corona. The team wants the public to contribute to this by uploading their shots through a dedicated App (Google Play, external or iTunes store, external).

In the meantime, find out more by watching this little movie that we made.

Many commentators believe Monday's eclipse will prove to be the most observed, most photographed, and best documented such event in human history.

That could be true, although huge numbers would have seen the 2009 eclipse that swept across India and China. Those are very populous countries.

The US, though, does have excellent transport connections, and this will help many people get into a good position.

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.

And for those towns in the path - they've suddenly become very popular places to visit. Just like Hopkinsville, Kentucky.

Wherever you watch the eclipse today, please take care. Looking directly at the Sun can be dangerous. And as wonderful as eclipses might be, they're not worth damaging your eyesight for. British solar scientist Lucie Green has a handy guide.