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The Great American Solar Eclipse is almost upon us and if you're planning to see it, timing is everything. From start to finish, the entire solar eclipse of Aug. 21 runs about four hours, but exactly what you can see and when depends on where you are. The eclipse begins on the West Coast at 9:05 a.m. PDT (12:05 p.m. EDT/1605 GMT) and ends on the East Coast at 4:09 p.m. EDT (2009 GMT). You can watch the entire solar eclipse on Space.com, courtesy of NASA.

There are many options to find out exactly what time the eclipse starts, peaks and ends where you live, beginning with the interactive solar eclipse maps and apps listed here. You can also enter your zip code into this tool from the Courier-Journal or use this Solar Eclipse Computer from the U.S. Naval Observatory, which also uses zip codes and country locations those outside the U.S. who can still see a partial solar eclipse. NOAA's Solar Eclipse Weather Page gives weather forecasts based on zip code, and the U.S. Department of Transportation has this U.S. Traffic Forecast fo... , too.  And, of  course, you can live stream the solar eclipse, if needed. The table below shows solar eclipse timeline for cities within the 14 states that will see totality during the eclipse. 

Location Eclipse Begins Totality Begins Totality Ends Eclipse Ends Time Zone
Madras, OR 09:06 a.m. 10:19 a.m. 10:21 a.m. 11:41 a.m. PDT
Idaho Falls, ID 10:15 a.m. 11:33 a.m. 11:34 a.m. 12:58 p.m. MDT
Casper, WY 10:22 a.m. 11:42 a.m. 11:45 a.m. 01:09 p.m. MDT
Lincoln, NE 11:37 a.m. 01:02 p.m. 01:04 p.m. 02:29 p.m. CDT
Jefferson City, MO 11:46 a.m. 01:13 p.m. 01:15 p.m. 02:41 p.m. CDT
Carbondale, IL 11:52 a.m. 01:20 p.m. 01:22 p.m. 02:47 p.m. CDT
Paducah, KY 11:54 a.m. 01:22 p.m. 01:24 p.m. 02:49 p.m. CDT
Nashville, TN 11:58 a.m. 01:27 p.m. 01:29 p.m. 02:54 p.m. CDT
Clayton, GA 01:06 p.m. 02:35 p.m. 02:38 p.m. 04:01 p.m. EDT
Columbia, SC 01:03 p.m. 02:41 p.m. 02:44 p.m. 04:06 p.m. EDT

Visit Space.com daily from Aug. 18 to Aug. 22 for complete coverage of the Great American Solar Eclipse!

Email Tariq Malik at tmalik@space.com or follow him @tariqjmalik and Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+.