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Get Ready, Pound Ridge: First US Total Eclipse Since '79 Coming

The first total solar eclipse of the 21st century is less than two months away.

Total solar eclipse

Total solar eclipse

Photo Credit: Luc Viatour/www.Lucnix.be via wikipedia

The sun will disappear behind the moon, turning daylight into twilight, and leading to a quick plunge in temperature before streamers of light streaking across the sky around the moon's silhouette.

So mark your calendar now, Hudson Valley residents. Monday, Aug. 21 will mark the first time a total solar eclipse will be visible from the mainland United States since 1979.

How long ago was that? Well, consider this. Jimmy Carter was president and 63 Americans were taken hostage in Iran shortly after Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini returned to Tehran after nearly 15 years of exile.

"A total eclipse of the sun belongs on everyone's bucket list," said Hudson Valley resident and renowned astronomer and science communicator Neil deGrasse Tyson.

The Aug. 21 eclipse will also be the first to sweep across the entire country since 1918.

Given all that, excitement is building. You can check out a website devoted just to the eclipse -- eclipse2017org -- by clicking here.

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