--- title: Video: Watch the Whole Total Solar Eclipse in 4 Minutes description: A total solar eclipse swept across the U.S. from coast to coast for the first time. Watch the whole eclipse in four minutes. canonical: https://time.com/4900280/total-solar-eclipse-2017-video-watch/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-08-21T19:26:47.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:54:09.385Z article:section: Science og:title: Watch the Whole Total Solar Eclipse in 4 Minutes og:description: The eclipse took just about an hour and a half to traverse the country og:url: https://time.com/4900280/total-solar-eclipse-2017-video-watch/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte77c7925e9fefac0/6988d909ab6d77ed636af540/eclipse1.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Behold the veil: A total eclipse reveals the sun's corona og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Watch the Whole Total Solar Eclipse in 4 Minutes twitter:description: The eclipse took just about an hour and a half to traverse the country twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte77c7925e9fefac0/6988d909ab6d77ed636af540/eclipse1.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Watch the Whole Total Solar Eclipse in 4 Minutes ## Video: Eclipse Totality in Salem, Oregon [Watch (HLS stream): Eclipse Totality in Salem, Oregon](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/OlNmBnFV.m3u8) (0:31)  _Published 2017-08-21. Eclipse Totality in Salem, Oregon_ by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Aug 21, 2017 7:26 PM UTC  Behold the veil: A total eclipse reveals the sun's corona Behold the veil: A total eclipse reveals the sun's corona(Williams College Eclipse Expedition - Jay M. Pasachoff, Muzhou Lu, and Craig Malamut/NASA) by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Aug 21, 2017 7:26 PM UTC Millions of Americans became witnesses to history Monday when a [total solar eclipse](http://time.com/4750899/total-solar-eclipse/) — [exclusive to the U.S](http://time.com/4882923/total-solar-eclipse-map-places-view/). — swept across the country from coast to coast for the first time. The eclipse, which earned the nickname [“The Great American Eclipse,”](http://time.com/4894416/solar-eclipse-2017-meaning/) first touched down in Lincoln Beach, Ore., at 10:16 a.m. PST before cutting across the country diagonally. It moved over parts of Idaho, Wyoming, Nebraska, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia and North Carolina, shrouding the states in sudden darkness before ending near Columbia, S.C. at 2:44 p.m. EST. It was the first total eclipse of the sun visible from the contiguous U.S. since 1979\. Total solar eclipses occur when the moon passes directly between the sun and the Earth and completely covers the entire face of the sun. They’re [exceedingly rare](http://time.com/4834676/total-solar-eclipse-2017-rare/). The “Great American Eclipse” took just about an hour and a half to traverse the country. Watch our solar eclipse video, showing the eclipse as it appeared from Casper, Wyo., in four minutes above. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4900280/total-solar-eclipse-2017-video-watch/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4900280/total-solar-eclipse-2017-video-watch/"},"headline":"Watch the Whole Total Solar Eclipse in 4 Minutes","datePublished":"2017-08-21T19:26:47.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:54:09.385Z","description":"The eclipse took just about an hour and a half to traverse the country","url":"https://time.com/4900280/total-solar-eclipse-2017-video-watch/","keywords":["Eclipse","onetime","space 2017"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte77c7925e9fefac0/6988d909ab6d77ed636af540/eclipse1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte77c7925e9fefac0/6988d909ab6d77ed636af540/eclipse1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Behold the veil: A total eclipse reveals the sun's corona","caption":"Behold the veil: A total eclipse reveals the sun's corona","creditText":"(Williams College Eclipse Expedition - Jay M. Pasachoff, Muzhou Lu, and Craig Malamut/NASA)","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/eclipse/","name":"Eclipse"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4900280/total-solar-eclipse-2017-video-watch/","name":"Watch the Whole Total Solar Eclipse in 4 Minutes"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Eclipse Totality in Salem, Oregon","description":"Eclipse Totality in Salem, Oregon","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/OlNmBnFV/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2017-08-21T19:40:56.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/OlNmBnFV.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4900280/total-solar-eclipse-2017-video-watch/","duration":"PT31S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4900280/total-solar-eclipse-2017-video-watch/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```