Watch Live Stream: Total Solar Eclipse 2017 As Seen By NASA

NEW YORK, NY — Do you want to watch the 2017 total solar eclipse as it passes across the United States? If you're not in the "path of totality," you won't be able to see the sun completely block out the sun, unfortunately. But you're in luck: You can watch a live stream of the event below with footage from across the country as well as unique perspectives in the upper atmosphere provided by NASA.

Coverage will begin at 12 p.m. Eastern. But the main event begins at 1 p.m. Eastern, when the total eclipse itself will begin to pass across North America. For any given location, the total eclipse will only last a few minutes.

"This will be the first total eclipse to span the U.S. since 1918," Alex Young, associate director for heliophysics at the Goddard Space Flight Center. "And scientific instruments have come a long way. The event presents a perfect opportunity to shed light on phenomena such as solar flares and coronal mass projections."

(Live stream at bottom of article)

NASA will use 68 telescopes along the path of totality to get as much information about the phenomenon as possible.

The path of the total eclipse begins on the West Coast, in Oregon, and over the course of a couple of hours, the moon will block out the sun across the country, concluding in South Carolina. (For more national stories, subscribe to the Across America Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts.)

Many of those not in the path of totality will still be able to see a partial eclipse. However, you need special glasses to watch a partial eclipse, because the sun's rays can damage human eyes. Even those in the path of totality may injure their eyes if they look at the sun before it is completely occluded by the moon. If you're at all worried about looking at the sun, feel free to just watch NASA's 100 percent safe live stream.

"Over the course of 100 minutes, 14 states across the United States will experience more than two minutes of darkness in the middle of the day," explains NASA. "Additionally, a partial eclipse will be viewable across all of North America. The eclipse will provide a unique opportunity to study the sun, Earth, moon and their interaction because of the eclipse’s long path over land coast to coast."

"All hands (cameras) on deck for #SolarEclipse2017 today," tweeted astronaut Jack Fischer Monday morning from the International Space Station. "What will you take pictures with? Don’t forget to protect your eyeballs!"

The moon has already completely blocked the sun in much of the western region of the country. Both Missouri and Nebraska will experience the total eclipse next.

In the comments below, let us know what you think. Was it amazing or underwhelming? Did you use a pinhole viewer or special eclipse glasses to view the stellar phenomenon? And remember: Keep your eyes safe!

Watch the live stream below:

NASA TV:

People from around the country marveled at the event.

"We're all part of something celestial — so much bigger than us, so mysterious," said Ed Sullivan, who traveled from Richmond, Virginia, to Glendo Reservoir in Wyoming. "There is so much to ponder I don't even know what questions to ask, but I enjoy just feeling the mystery."

With 200 million people within a day's drive from the path of totality, towns and parks saw big crowds. Skies were clear along most of the route, to the relief of those who feared cloud cover would spoil this once-in-a-lifetime moment.

"The show has just begun, people! What a gorgeous day! Isn't this great, people?" Jim Todd, a director at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, told a crowd of thousands at an amphitheater in Salem, Oregon, as the moon took an ever-bigger bite out of the sun.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images