If you're in the U.S., a total solar eclipse is coming to a sky near you

Anyone worried about the world ending next year should probably mark their calendars for Aug. 21, when the sun will "undergo the most amazing celestial disappearing act seen [in North America] since 1979," National Geographic reports. The sun's disappearing act, more commonly known as a solar eclipse, will stretch from Oregon to South Carolina next summer.

A partial eclipse, where the moon shadows just a side of the sun, will be visible for much of the country. The "total" solar eclipse will also reach many American cities, with "most" of the U.S. population within a day's drive of a location that will go totally dark as the moon blocks the light of the sun. Or, as Shakespeare puts it: "'Tis day, and yet dark night strangles the traveling lamp." Have fun with that!

Assuming we make it past this one, the next solar eclipse in North America won't be until 2024.

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