It will be the first total eclipse visible only in the USA since the country was founded in 1776.

Billed as 'the biggest and best solar eclipse in American history', it will not arrive for a year - but organisers say already thousands of places have been reserved to watch the 'Great American Eclipse'.

On Aug. 21, 2017, a total solar eclipse will be visible from coast to coast.

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Where to watch: On Aug. 21, 2017, a total solar eclipse will be visible from coast to coast. It will be the first total eclipse visible only in the USA since the country was founded in 1776.

Organizers of the Oregon SolarFest are calling it 'a rare, mind-blowing cosmic experience,' while Nashville promises visitors 'a once-in-a-lifetime celestial event.'

Not since 1970 has there been an opportunity to see a total solar eclipse in such easily accessible and widespread areas, as it passes through 12 states.

The eclipse will start on the West Coast in Oregon and trace a 67-mile wide path east across the country, finally exiting the East Coast in South Carolina.

At any given location, the total eclipse will last for around 2 or 3 minutes.

It will pass directly over cities such as Salem, Ore., Idaho Falls, Lincoln, Neb., Kansas City, Nashville, and Columbia and Charleston, S.C. Places within a one- or two-hour drive of the eclipse include Portland, Ore., Boise, Cheyenne, Rapid City, Omaha, Neb., Topeka, St. Louis, Louisville, Knoxville, Chattanooga, Atlanta and Charlotte.

HOW THE ECLIPSE WILL HAPPEN The shadow will make its first landfall along the coast of Oregon at Yaquina Head, a headland extending into the Pacific Ocean north of Newport. The total eclipse will be visible within a path of darkness stretching from Oregon through Idaho, Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, North Carolina and finally South Carolina. The path will average 67 miles (108 km) in width, but it will widen to a maximum of 71 miles (114 km) while moving through western Kentucky, about 12 miles (19 km) northwest of the town of Hopkinsville (population 3,000). Not since 1970 has there been an opportunity to see a total solar eclipse in such easily accessible and widespread areas, as it passes through 12 states. The eclipse will start on the West Coast in Oregon and trace a 67-mile wide path east across the country, finally exiting the East Coast in South Carolina. Because the moon's shadow will be moving at a tremendous speed, totality will not last very long in any one place. At the Oregon coastline, totality lasts less than 2 minutes, as the shadow will be traveling at more than three times the speed of sound (2,400 mph, or 3,860 km/h). Moon’s shadow landfalls Oregon, crosses USA at 1800mph, exits SCarolina. Behold ‘Muuurica’s Eclipse. pic.twitter.com/fIMCnEyyQy — Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) August 21, 2016 Neil DeGrasse Tyson took to Twitter to warn users of the eclipse a year in advance Heading southeast along the center line, the totality time slowly lengthens, reaching a maximum of 2 minutes and 40.2 seconds at a spot in southern Illinois about 12 miles (19 km) southeast of the city of Carbondale. The shadow will slow to 1,450 mph (2,330 km/h) as it moves through the Tennessee Valley, and then speed up; subsequently, the duration of totality will begin to diminish. When the eclipse arrives at the South Carolina coastline, the duration of totality will have dropped to 2 minutes and 34 seconds. The shadow then exits out to sea, finally leaving Earth 75 minutes later at local sunset in the North Atlantic Ocean, 390 miles (628 km) southwest of the island nation of Cape Verde. Advertisement

An estimated 12 million people live within the path of totality, according to Space.com.

The number of people within just one day's drive of the totality zone is around 200 million.

A partial eclipse will be visible from all of North America, parts of South America, western Europe and Africa.

Officials in Wyoming's Teton County are already setting up management plans to prepare for a crush of 40,000 tourists, including people camping illegally, who are expected to swarm Jackson Hole next summer to see a total solar eclipse.

Next year's eclipse will happen during the busy summer tourist season in Jackson Hole, which borders Grand Teton National Park and is a gateway to neighboring Yellowstone National Park.

'Illegal camping is going to be a huge issue with this,' Teton County Emergency Management Coordinator Rich Ochs told the Jackson Hole News & Guide.

A total solar eclipse occurs over Svalbard on March 20, 2015.A partial eclipse was visible on Friday, the first day of northern spring, across parts of Africa, Europe and Asia.

'Hotels are already full, the ones that book this far out. People are coming here because it's a once-in-a-lifetime event.

'Not getting a hotel room is not going to stop them. So we're going to have issues — a lot of nuisance issues.'

While Teton County isn't promoting the event like some other Wyoming cities, local officials know how attractive Jackson Hole during the summer even without an international event.

'It's like running advertisements for a time when you're going to completely sell out,' Jackson Hole Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Jeff Golightly said. 'We've heard of hotels that sold out two years ago. There will be no bargains at that time.'

In contrast, officials in the eastern Wyoming city of Casper are promoting it as 'the best place to view the 2017 total solar eclipse.'

The total eclipse will be visible within a path of darkness stretching from Oregon through Idaho, Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, North Carolina and finally South Carolina.

Ochs said communities in and around Jackson Hole are already reserving anticipated extra needs, like portable toilets.

'We already realized when we're looking at getting resources for this event, we really can't look to our mutual aid partners to the east and the west because they're having the same issue we are,' Ochs said. 'We've got to look north and south.'

Grocery stores have also been advised to stock up on bottled water and gas stations alerted to keep their tanks full.

Nashville, the largest city directly in the eclipse path, is gearing up with special programs and activities.

The city's convention and visitors bureau launched a slick website devoted to the eclipse, which they're calling the 'Music City Solar Eclipse.'