A huge shadow cast by the Moon as it passes in front of the Sun has just touched the Earth some 2,400km west of North America in the Pacific Ocean.
Over the course of three hours, it is tracking around the globe, cutting across the US from Oregon in the west to South Carolina in the east.
It is the first total solar eclipse visible from America's lower 48 states in 38 years.
It is also the first such event since 1918 where the path of darkness will traverse both the Pacific and Atlantic coasts and the first total solar eclipse to make landfall exclusively in the US since independence in 1776.
Source: BBC
