As many as a half dozen or more high-altitude balloons carrying video cameras will rise from the Lowcountry in August, livestreaming a rare total solar eclipse that will be broadcast from the College of Charleston grounds.

The balloons are expected to be among as many as 50 deployed under NASA guidance, along with 11 spacecraft, to record the event.

The broadcast from a NASA team on Rivers Green behind Addlestone Library will be streamed on NASA TV, the NASA website and various public broadcasting stations across the United States beginning at 1 p.m Aug. 21, NASA announced Wednesday.

The total eclipse is predicted to begin over Charleston at 2:46 p.m., lasting less than two minutes.

"NASA has designated Charleston as Eclipse Central," Cassandra Runyon, a planetary geology professor at the college, said Wednesday.

The federal space agency will have correspondents and scientists stationed across the nation to provide live updates of the eclipse during the telecast.

"Never before has a celestial event been viewed by so many and explored from so many vantage points," said Thomas Zurbuchen, a NASA associate director.

A total eclipse when the moon passes directly in front of the sun, putting the Earth in shadow is a relatively rare event for most people. The star and the moon appear as a single dark orb with a brilliant flare, or corona, at its rim.

Charleston and a 70-mile or so stretch the length of South Carolina will be right under the "totality" shadow path. The last time that happened here was in 1970.

The eclipse will begin in Oregon and end off the Lowcountry coast. It will be the first time in 99 years that a total eclipse of the sun will be visible all across the United States, according to NASA.

Over the course of 100 minutes, 14 states across the United States will experience some two minutes of darkness in the middle of the day. A partial eclipse will be viewable across all of North America. The eclipse is expected to start in Lowcountry skies about 1:16 p.m. The lunar shadow will leave the area at 4:09 p.m.

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NASA will broadcast a livestream of August's rare solar eclipse from Charleston - Charleston Post Courier