My internal clock refused to let me take advantage of the 'extra' hour of sleep this morning, so at about 6:45 EST, since I am up, I will hopefully be able to witness a rare solar eclipse (weather permitting). We provide a link with a countdown below.

For most North American observers, Space.com says, the partial eclipse will coincide with sunrise. But within a very narrow corridor that extends for 8,345 miles (13,430 kilometers) across the planet, the disks of the sun and the moon will appear to exactly coincide, providing an example of the most unusual type of eclipse: a "hybrid" or "annular-total eclipse."

During annular solar eclipse, the sun looks like a "ring of fire," while the moon and sun line up perfectly during a total eclipse. Throughout a hybrid eclipse, however, the celestial sight transitions from annular to total.

If you don't have a chance to see the eclipse from your part of the world, you can watch the cosmic rarity live on SPACE.com courtesy of the online community observatory Slooh.com. The eclipse event begins at 6:45 a.m. EST (1515 GMT) and will run throughout the entirety of the eclipse.