Eclipse 2017: Retro 1970s news report imagines the 2017 solar event

'I'm sorry we will have to wait around until 2017 before we can do that one again'

The last total solar eclipse across the US was almost 40 years ago on 26 February 1979 - with a narrow strip of the northwestern United States and central Canada able to see it.

Billed as the "last total solar eclipse to be seen in the US this century" by presenters at the time, the eclipse this year was seen as a dim and distant thing.

One of the people lucky enough to see the 1979 eclipse in the above clip said he had "wanted to see one since he was a little kid".

He called it a "once in a lifetime event" as the next one "isn't until 2017, right?"

The 1979 event was a major event for broadcasters, but the coverage was somewhat different from the social media-powered global event that we see today.

The clip ends with one presenter apologising to viewers about the wait for the next such eclipse: "I'm sorry we will have to wait around until 2017 before we can do that one again"

However, the reactions from spectators were similar between the two as the start of the 2017 total eclipse drew whoops and cheers from onlookers gathered at Roshambo ArtFarm in Sheridan, Oregon.

“It was incredible,” said Cheryl Laroche, 57, who along with her husband, Rob, planned their eclipse trip for about a year. “It was literally cold and dark. The light was blue. It wasn't eerie. It was just different,” she told Reuters.

Unlike the 1979 event, the 2017 total eclipse can be seen by a swathe of viewers right across the US, from West coast to East coat.