Don’t say you weren’t warned: Aug. 21, 2017, “may turn out to be the most popular vacation-day request in history,” Michael E. Bakich writes in Discover magazine — so you may want to get that time-off request in early.

Why? Because on that date — for the first time in 99 years — a total eclipse of the sun will be visible across the United States, from sea to temporarily-not-shining sea. Millions of Americans will be in easy driving distance of a spectacle that has been called indescribable, unforgettable, even life-altering. The sun will disappear for about 2½ minutes, beginning in Oregon about 10:15 a.m. local time; the phenomenon will move eastward, ending an hour and a half later in South Carolina.

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