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Solar eclipses have been blamed in the past for war, famine, and the deaths of kings. But the upcoming total eclipse on August 1 will mostly be celebrated by excited skywatchers—even if it won't break any records. eclipse path picture Enlarge Photo _ Printer Friendly Email to a Friend What's This? SHARE Digg StumbleUpon Reddit RELATED * VIDEO: Solar Eclipse Coming August 1 (July 22, 2008) * Full Moon: Colorful Name for Every Month * Ancient Eclipse Found in "The Odyssey," Scientists Say (June 23, 2008) The sun will be completely obscured for just under two and a half minutes, "a tad on the short side," according to astrophysicist Fred Espenak, an eclipse expert based at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. A typical eclipse lasts for three minutes, Espenak said, and the longest possible is seven and a half minutes. When it starts, this year's full eclipse will be visible from a narrow arc spanning the Northern Hemisphere. Its path will begin in Canada and continue northeast across Greenland and the Arctic, then southeast through central Russia, Mongolia, and China. The eclipse will start around 8:30 a.m. Greenwich mean time in the eastern part of the arc, leading to totality in just under an hour. In a much wider swath of the globe—including northeastern North America along with most of Europe and Asia—people will be able to see a partial eclipse. "Drop Dead Gorgeous" The moon crosses between Earth and the sun once a month during the new moon. For an eclipse to happen, the moon has to come directly between the two bodies—it can't be too high or low relative to Earth. (See photos of the full moon from Earth and space.) Sometimes the moon will be close enough that just an edge will pass in between, resulting in a partial eclipse. About 25 percent of eclipses are total eclipses, and there are about seven of these a decade, Espenak said. But at any given geographic location, a total eclipse will be visible an average of once in 375 years.