An eclipse will cross the US for the first time in a century when the sun, moon and earth line up perfectly in the cosmos on August 21, turning day into night for a few wondrous minutes.
Never will a total solar eclipse be so heavily viewed and studied - or celebrated.
"We're going to be looking at this event with unprecedented eyes," promises Alex Young, a solar physicist who is co-ordinating NASA's education and public outreach.
And the party planning is at full tilt from Oregon to South Carolina.
Eclipse Fests, StarFests, SolarFests, SolFests, Darkening of the SunFests, MoonshadowFests, EclipseCons, Eclipse Encounters and Star Parties are planned along the long but narrow path of totality, where the moon completely blots out the sun.
Vineyards, breweries, museums, parks, universities, stadiums - just about everybody is getting into the act.
Scientists are also going gaga.
"This is a really amazing chance to just open the public's eyes to wonder," says Montana State University's Angela Des Jardins, a physicist in charge of a NASA eclipse ballooning project. The student-launched, high-altitude balloons will beam back live video of the eclipse along the route.
Satellites and ground telescopes will also aim at the sun and at the moon's shadow cutting a swathe about 97 to 113 kilometres wide across the land.
Astronauts will do the same with cameras aboard the International Space Station. Ships and planes will also catch the action.
At the same time, researchers and the just plain curious will watch how animals and plants react as darkness falls. It will resemble twilight and the temperature will drop.
From the time the sun begins to be eclipsed by the moon near Lincoln City, Oregon, until the time the moon's shadow vanishes near Charleston, South Carolina, NASA will emcee the whole show via TV and internet from that coastal city.
The total eclipse will last just 90 minutes as the lunar shadow sweeps coast to coast at more than 2400km/h beginning about 1.15pm local time on the east coast.
The sun's crown - the normally invisible outer atmosphere known as the corona - will shine forth like a halo.
It will be the first total solar eclipse in 99 years to cross coast-to-coast and the first to pass through any part of the Lower 48 states in 38 years.
No other country but the US will be on the path of totality. Originating in the wide open North Pacific and ending in the Atlantic well short of Africa, the path of totality will cover 13,800 kilometres from end to end.
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