Countdown begins for the 'Great American Eclipse' of 2017

(FOX News) - In a year, a large swath of the United States will fall under the shadow of the moon during a historic eclipse that's already generating buzz.

On August 21, 2017, the eclipse will travel a path from sea to shining sea: from Oregon, moving east through Idaho and Wyoming, then eventually through Tennessee and South Carolina.

This eclipse will be one for the record books. According to Space.com, there hasn't been an a total solar eclipse that's gone coast-to-coast across the U.S. since 1918, and according to USA Today, this is the first time a total solar eclipse has been seeable only in this country since its founding.

Solar eclipses occur when the moon is exactly between the sun and the Earth.

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