Just a few hours remain before a narrow band across the entire North American Continent experiences a total solar eclipse on Monday.

Different from a lunar eclipse, which is the Earth’s shadow blocking out sunlight on the moon, the solar eclipse occurs when the moon itself blocks out the sun. The last time this was visible across the entire United States was in 1918.

The path of totality will touch 14 states, beginning on the Oregon coast and ending on the South Carolina coast and a partial eclipse will be visible from Canada, Central America, Mexico, Caribbean islands, Europe and Russia. The...