GERING, Neb. (AP) — Scientists have visited a western Nebraska city to recruit volunteers to take photographs of the United States’ first coast-to-coast total solar eclipse in 99 years.

Gering was visited Monday by Laura Peticolas, a senior fellow at the University of California-Berkeley’s Space Sciences Laboratory, and Chris Cable, a consultant with the laboratory’s education group Multiverse.

The scientists are gathering volunteers to take photographs of the Aug. 21 eclipse for a video project. The 2- to 3-minute video will be pieced together with images from various points along the eclipse path.

The data will help NASA better understand the sun.

The project is seeking 1,500 volunteers with specific equipment, including a DSLR camera, a lens minimum of 300 mm, a tripod and the ability to identify GPS coordinates.