Watch: Solar eclipse coverage from across the nation

e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e totality 99% totality doesn't cut it right exactly 100% nothing less now if you don't have eclipse glasses you can enjoy it indirectly with tools like pinhole projectors and if you want to make one with us live in about 30 minutes just grab a sturdy piece of paper or cardboard and a thumbtack or other sharp pen I'm going to use my NASA pin for when we make it all right so Sarah what are we expecting today what is a total solar eclipse so total solar eclipse happens when the the Earth the moon and the sun are so perfectly aligned that the moon completely blacks out our view of the sun and does that happen often you know actually somewhere in the world there's an eclipse about every 18 months or so but like in any particular place it's a pretty rare event yeah I mean specifically here in Cleveland the last time Cleveland had a total solar eclipse get this 1806 wow that's remarkable so quite a long time ago once in a lifetime opportunity all right but not everyone is going to be able to see the moon completely eclipsing the sun that's right only those of us in this narrow path of totality but just about everyone in the US will get to see a partial eclipse today weather permitting weather permitting yes I hope that Cleveland here and everyone else along the to path of totality will be good and clear okay so let's take a look at today's path of totality it passes through parts of Mexico 15 US states and Southeastern Canada there's an estimated 32 million people who live along the path and not to mention the tens and thousands of people who travel to somewhere along it as well like us you know you're from DC and I'm from Florida I feel very lucky to be able to get to travel to see this one yeah yeah absolutely and we're going to have live reports from our correspondents spread out across the path all excited to share this event with you some recognizable locations in between the Indianapolis Motor Speedway home of the famous Indie 500 and then also Niagara Falls where officials expect up to a million visitors look at our team there waving at you happy to see you guys and we'll hear from you soon okay so again we will hear from those correspondents but also on our broadcast a live interview with astronauts on board the International Space Station Sarah's already ready she's ready because that's going to be obviously a unique place to witness today's Celestial event so we'll talk to them about that we're also going to explain some of the science NASA will conduct during the eclipse and why that's important to you and if you have questions about today's Cosmic alignment use the hash Eclipse to send those in wherever you're watching us we already have some questions from some kids EXC and a celebrity I can't wait to surprise you with who that is all right in addition to NASA's Eclipse event here there are plenty more in communities across the country so why don't we take a look at some of them now all right so this is the California Academy of Sciences that's a beautiful place to to witness W looks they have great weather today they're only going to get a partial eclipse there but you know still that is more than enough reason to get outside and enjoy some time with your friends and family Waco Texas people have their seats they're ready to go they're all comfortable I see some coolers there oh and this is the ader de Sky Center they have a big field for people to VI you know a couple of days ago we saw the same field it was covered in snow snow so I'm glad they have a nice place to sit exactly and Kennedy Space Center the famous Rocket Garden that we have at the visitors complex there that's also a cool place to watch a partial there partial eclipse yep yeah and then lastly the mentor Civic Amphitheater a nice big field again to take a look out into and and enjoy today's event I'm sure that'll fill up soon I yes I'm sure still Gathering there all right very much a party atmosphere we've seen in in some of those watch parties that especially here again the music the exhibits all the things happening here kind of reminds me of a sporting event you know so because of that I'm going to ask you who's the goat today right is it the moon is it the Sun or is it the earth I mean I'm a lunar scientist so maybe a little biased but you got you got to go with the moon on this one right it's the Moon that is like coming in for the block today it's all the action to the Moon I love that sport Sports reference but I'm going to have to say Earth because well first of all we love our home planet right but because we're here the moon has something to project its shadow on and that's why we have the celestial alignment and show we're about to see today that's that's where I'm going that's how I'm going yeah all right and now we want to know which team you're on you can cast your vote by going to NASA solar system on Facebook X or Instagram and we we'll reveal the winning team at the end of the broadcast Earth the Moon Shadow will only be over land for about an hour and 28 minutes today moving at an average speed of about 1900 miles an hour keeping track of it for us is NASA's James try yeah thanks so much Megan I'm going to have to go with option number three there the sun because it gives us the energy for us to thrive here on on Earth and speaking of energy it is bustling here at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor complex I'm coming to you from our new Gateway exhibit where we today only have a partial eclipse but still super excited to be tracking all of today's events live with our Eclipse Explorer this right here is a fantastic tool that was developed by our friends at Nasa Godard science V visualization Studio they put this tool together for us to track the eclipse down to the exact second if you wanted to get access to this yourself get a feel for how this is going to look in your neck of the woods you can go to go. nasa.gov Eclipse Explorer and you can track where your city is going to be your ZIP code by punching it into this little box here it's going to snap right to your location and give you some key stats you just saw Cleveland there so I can bring them up here Cleveland is expecting Peak totality here to start at 313 45 to be precise local time they've got a time of totality of 3 minutes 49 seconds plenty of time to really sit back and bask in their moment in the fully eclipsed Sun I'm going to be tracking all of this all throughout the afternoon for you to make sure that you do not miss a second of this coverage even if you're outside of that path of totality like we are right here more than 99% of the us is going to be able to see at least a partial eclipse some places already experienced like you just saw that footage from mazatan a little while ago they are already experiencing a partial eclipse and as always if you are in partial be sure to wear proper eye protection to protect your vision so you can safely enjoy today's fantastic Celestial event plenty of awesome stuff coming up we're going to keep a keen eye on that weather Cleveland's looking nice and beautiful very clear skies Megan back to you thank you James and joining us now is Dr Bob Leman a heloh physicist at NASA's Gard space flight center it's great to have you here thank you very much so talk to US Today's total solar eclipse it's going to look very different from what we saw seven years ago right it is right the Sun is going to look the Sun coron is going to look very cool today it's going to look cooler than it did last time uh and I mean cool in the sense of wow uh not not not cold cu the solar Corona is like a million degrees um but compared to to last time uh was close to the solar minimum the minimum amount of magnetic activity on the sun this's this 11y year or so cycle and 2017 was close to a minimum and and 24 2024 April 2024 is pretty much close right to the maximum of that so we're going to see the maximum amount of of dynamism of of of activity and and it's going to look uh you'll see Rays shooting out uh and does that increased activity mean that we have a chance for new discoveries today and increased science uh sure um so in addition to the science that will be done because of the eclipse just greater activity levels means that we have more chance to see what the Sun is going to do increased radiation levels uh increased activity eruptions that that that will affect the the Earth um things that so how does that affect the Earth and how do we we study those effects what do we have the tools the assets to study those effects uh sure so in we call the whole General thing spa space weather so we get increased radiation or or what we call coronal mass ejections chunks of the Suns that blow off and and and and and and and hit the earth um and those affect things like power grids and radio communications and GPS satellites um all of which are you know every everyday real implications for for that thing that's 93 million miles away and how do you feel you know you're a Helo physicist this is kind of like your Super Bowl uh pretty much yeah you are not the first person to say that to me today and are we right uh pretty much yes I mean this this is it I mean SE seven years and and and I like to say there's the the the the diving you know trying to reach the goal line from the Super Bowl what 15 20 years ago that was like you know totality not totality and and yeah today today is it I'm I'm really looking forward to it um yeah absolutely and we will have a a whole bunch of fun here yeah again uh eclipses are unique opportunity to really study the Sun and how it affects us so I know that again your fellow heloh physicists and really across uh across uh the uh uh disciplines of science I know that today is really special for a lot of people it is yes thank you Bob I really appreciate you being here thank you so much all right it's time now to check in with our first team along the path of totality here is Tahira Allen in kville Texas a city so lucky it gets a solar total a solar eclipse twice in a single year thanks Megan and welcome to kville Texas I'm tiir Allen with NASA Communications and I'm Gina deio the deputy director of heliophysics at Nasa Godard we're live from the kville eclipse Festival where tens of thousands are gathering to witness the second solar eclipse that has passed through this town in just 6 months now this is incredibly rare and people have traveled from all over the world to share in this spectacular moment right here at the crossroads of the eclipse now Gina we were lucky enough to be here last year for the annular solar eclipse how does it feel to be back you know the anular was such a spectacular experience but I'm already feeling even more energy today and I'm socit crowd no and and we have a full day of celebration in store you know the town really turned out for this event this morning we heard from the mayor and we are surrounded with food and shopping and different activities I think I saw the Texas state astronomy club here giving out free telescope viewings so it's just a really really special moment for people to come together and enjoy this Celestial event it's right to hear it and you know we had some cloud coverage today it's looking to be pretty good it's going back and forth so you know fingers crossed regardless of how this turns out we have live music and dancing afterwards so it's going to be a good day absolutely and you know I mean this is going to be my first total solar eclipse and so last year was incredible with the annular folks if this is your first total solar eclipse let us know in the comments wherever you're watching we'd love to hear it so this is also a good time to remind everyone that it is not safe to look directly at the sun without specialized on protection for solar viewing now that is except during the brief phase where the Moon is completely covering the Sun and that will only be for those in the path of totality now we have a special guests that you might recognize popping in to share some important tips to make sure you stay safe during today's event hi Eclipse enthusiasts Lance Bass here and I want to tell you how to protect those eyes and stay safe during a solar eclipse during these celestial events the sun earth and moon are in sync creating solar eclipses you can look directly at the Sun during a total solar eclipse but only when it's completely covered by the moon for a brief period known as totality this is a really special moment at all other times you should wear eclipse glasses so that you don't say bye-bye-bye to your vision seriously and eclipse glasses are not the same as regular sunglasses no they're not safe solar viewers are thousands of times darker and will have a specific certification that you should look for right here don't be a space cowboy and try to look directly at the sun if you don't have eclipse glasses you can use an indirect viewing method like a pinhole projector you can make one of these with something as simple as an index card with a hole or a colander or even your hands with a sun at your back you can safely project an image of the sun through the hole onto a nearby surface like the ground it's going to be me who is wearing my eclipse glasses and so are you now you can't have an eclipse without the Sun the Moon and the Earth and as you heard from Megan and Sarah earlier we've been hosting a friendly competition to see which one of these three teams that you're siding with today now Gina feel like it almost goes unet here but I have to ask I don't don't want to assume which team are you repping today you probably were going to guess Sun would thought you're right so Helio physics it's the study of the Sun and its influence on everything and it impacts all of our planets and today the solar Corona is stealing the spotlight of the show so team Sun for me I guess it it really is the star of the show today but you know what Gina I think I'm going to have to be a little bit biased too so International observe the moonight which is NASA's celebration of all things Moon actually falls on my birthday this year okay so I think I'm having a little bit of a lunar connection but for those watching if you haven't joined the fun yet you can vote for your Eclipse team on NASA solar system Facebook X and Instagram we're going to be sharing those poll results throughout the show so be sure to go vote for your team now also during the broadcast you can send us questions using # eclips on social media we have teams standing by online to answer and we're going to be taking some of those questions questions live on today's show now speaking about taking questions live Gina we actually had some kids send in videos before Today's Show oh so let's roll one of those right now my name is Jonathan my question is will NASA do any experiments during the solar eclipse thank you oh great question Jonathan now we have a bunch of different eclipses experiments that will take place during the eclipse today so first we're trying to study the solar Corona so we have NASA's WB 57 high altitude research jet flying across the path of totality taking pictures of that upper atmosphere of the Sun that Corona so that we can learn its composition why it gets to be heated to extreme temperatures but we also care about the eclipse's impact on Earth in the upper atmosphere so we're launching three sounding Rockets up into the atmosphere before during an after Peak Eclipse so that we can study how the atmosphere is changing as well so you know we're studying it with a plane we're studying it with rockets exactly any other way you know we have balloons science balloons that are going up too and we also have different ways that the public will be able to get involved in some of these experiments too thanks Gina and I actually have a great follow-up question to this this is from Lisa on Facebook who wants to know more about the sounding Rockets So they ask why is NASA shooting Rockets into the Moon Shadow during today's events okay let's talk more about the sounding Rockets because they are a lot of fun so the the first sounding rocket will be 45 minutes before Peak eclipse the next one during that Peak eclipse and the the final one after 45 minutes after and that's because we really want to understand the difference in density and temperature and these different factors in the upper atmosphere and really get a sense of how the atmosphere changes as the eclipse is coming and passes over so we have all these Rockets going up and it'll be a good day for that great and hopefully we'll get to see a replay of that later on in today's show that's right now folks it is really special for us to be back here in curving Texas covering Today's total solar eclipse just last October an annular solar eclipse passed right through this town now for a location to be at the crossroads of these two incredible Celestial vents is rare let's take a look at how the community has been preparing in the leadup to this big day kville is the eclipse capital of the state of Texas it is known as being the capital of the Texas Hill Country it's the epitome of Texas ranches deer beautiful streams like the guad loop here kville is very welcoming It's a Wonderful Community tight-knit small it has about 25,000 people kville is blessed to be in that special square the annular eclipse in 2023 and the total solar eclipse in 2024 we're talking about Crossroads you know we get it twice two two eclipses right here right where I stand it's statistically extraordinary we get two in less than 6 months everybody's excited about it city council County Commissioners everybody's working diligently to be able to provide safe opportunity for the influx of people this will be the biggest event in the history of the city and that's why the city is preparing we're preparing to make the event enjoyable for everybody who wants to see this tremendous natural phenomena I think that kville has done an awesome job of preparing you know way in advance it's getting that message out to people to make sure that they're taken care of personally but then there's the science part of it letting them know what is an eclipse and I'm just having a great time going out and talking to Civic organizations and clubs and to talk about eclipses so this will be my fourth and fifth solar eclipses I've seen total eclipse in Nebraska I drove 12200 miles for a little over 2 minutes and it was well worth it and just couldn't believe the experience of the eclipse I mean it's still just it literally gives me goosebumps every time I talk about it it's a viseral emotional experience that is just you have to you have to experience it to understand I thought I knew what it would be like but I gasped at the sheer Wonder it's going to be a you're going to hear that intake of air and awe it was the most beautiful natural thing I've ever seen so to have an eclipse basically in my backyard is just I it's [Music] indescribable we're here now with Katherine tro a telescope operator with the night sky Network who is giving us these highdef views of the Sun that you see in your screen right now of the eclipse Over kerville Texas cat thank you so much for being here with us thank you so much for having me and let's thank the weather for cooperating finally oh my goodness thanks cat and so I'm looking at the the telescope feed that we have and we have first Contact now here in kville okay so for people who want to become an or astronomer you know what advice do you have where should they get started the easiest way to get started is to look up night sky Network night sky network has over 400 astronomy clubs in the United States you would just use our search function to plug in your city and find the club that's closest to you and if you don't have a club that's close to you you can use our coordinator tips to start your own astronomy club wow that is awesome and you know what for folks if you want some more details on night the night the night sky notwork and other things on how to become an amateur astronomer you can visit go. nasa.com go/ night sky Network now a fun fact about today's broadcast that I absolutely loved learning was that so many of our telescope views that you're going to be seeing today are from amate amateur astronomers and so cat again on this topic of you know skygazing I heard that those in the path of totality might be able to witness more than just a total solar eclipse today could you give us a sneak peek on what we could expect absolutely so if we have clear skies in the path of totality as it gets darker you'll start to see two bright points of light that would be Jupiter and Venus and then as we get to totality at totality you'll be able to see the fainter planets Saturn Mercury and Mars and if you're lucky you'll be able to catch Comet 12p oh wow what a crazy like cosmic alignment today you know so man great so for the amateur astronomers that actually want to view today's Celestial event what tips do you have for them so of course you need to have solar protection you need to have solar safe glasses um and you need to have solar filters for your t opes your binoculars your cameras but you can also use indirect viewing like a pinhole projector box or you can use a disco ball a disco ball yes wait how does this work can you like walk us through this sure so as the Sun hits the mirrors and it'll cast a little reflection onto the onto the surface here you'll see little crescent shapes as the eclipse progresses that is incredible we need to keep that disco B oh yeah right no seriously so Gina didn't you say you could also use your hands at one point you know you can take your fingers and we them together to the light project through so that you can see the projection of the the eclipse on the ground abely that's fantastic so a lot of different ways to be able to view today's event there's no one wrong way to do it unless you're using yeah just do it just make sure you do it safely yeah and so cat to you know earlier we you gave me a little reveal of your shirt and it is too perfect for today's show you know could you could you give our give our viewers a little tast sure no problem so if you know you know if you know you know totality going on at the moment love it thank you so much for being here cat thank you again for having me absolutely and so now coming up soon we're going to get our first views of the total solar eclipse as begins in Mexico sweeping across North America we have correspondents all along this path who are going to bring you live into the action as it happens first up let's check in with Joy Young in Dallas Texas thanks to her andina so welcome to the Dallas arborium and Botanical Garden I'm joy and as you can see behind me we have a lot of people eagerly waiting for the total solar eclipse it's so amazing to hear so many people talk about the Sun and the Moon and what makes this day even special is that the eclipse gives scientists a really unique chance to do science so to tell me more I'm here with NASA scientist Dr Ashley gy thank you so much for joining us hi Joy thanks for having me so firstly how are you feeling about today I'm feeling really excited the skies are starting to clear out and it looks like we might get a pretty good show fingers crossed so earlier in the show we learned that today's Eclipse will look quite different from the 2017 Eclipse we're going to see more structures in the sun's outer atmosphere so Ashley can you tell me why is that different why is the sun going to look different and why is it changing sure the Sun goes through phases which we call a solar cycle that last roughly 11 years and those are periods where the sun is less active and periods where the sun is more active we're entering a time of solar maximum which is really exciting because that means that the Sun is more active its magnetic fields are are more Dynamic uh we may see features here such as streamers which looks like little uh spiky Wisps in the sun's atmosphere which we call the corona uh and then little prominences which look like little pink arcs on the surface of the Sun um yeah we're really excited to see this and we we hope that we'll see some really interesting features there may be a little bit of asymmetry as well in the the magnetic fields and I don't know I guess we'll have to find out in about an hour so so the sun is changing so do those effects do those changes affect life on Earth at all sure yes uh the sun does affect life here on Earth uh we have a term that we call space weather which applies to the field of study of everything from the Sun uh to the Earth and in between and and how that affects uh life here we are fortunate that on Earth uh we are protected from from things coming from the Sun by our magnetic fields which Shield us from those explosions that that come from the surface of the Sun that we we talked about um those can result in really fun occurrences such as the Aurora uh there can be some negative side effects but those are mostly limited to things that are outside our magnetic fields uh the the storms from the Sun can interfere with satellites and it's something we really have to think about as scientists as we we start to plan for putting humans on the surface of the Moon or potentially sending them to Mars uh those energetic particles that result from the Sun uh can impact humans so that's just something that we have to to learn about and take into account so so the sun is always there of course but why are eclipses a good time to study these effects called space weather yeah eclipses are a really cool time uh for scientists to be able to study the sun it's actually it's really hard to completely cover the disk of the Sun in order to study the the sun's atmosphere especially that inner part of the atmosphere uh we're really fortunate that here on Earth our moon is just the right size and just the right distance from Earth that it can completely block out uh the sun's disc during total solar eclipses uh so we're really able to observe that inner atmosphere in a way that we we can't normally so this event is really exciting for for both scientists and the public alike and that's just such a cool experience to share together thank you so much Ashley so if you're lucky enough to be in the path of totality keep an eye out for that Sun's outer atmosphere the Corona and and you'll know that you see these spiky features and it's because the sun is heading towards its most active phase so for now let's head to our friends in Russi Arkansas Jasmine how are things looking on your side joy things are looking absolutely fabulous in a very sunny downtown Russellville Arkansas as she said I'm NASA's Jasmine Hopkins and I'm coming to you live from the depot District where the city is throwing a massive block party all in celebration of the total solar eclipse now people in Arkansas have great reason to celebrate because this is only the second total solar eclipse visible from the state since it was first established in 1836 and the next one visible from here won't happen for another two decades so people around me are gearing up for what feels like a once in a-lifetime Opportunity now it's not just the residents of Russellville that are excited on average the city has about 29,000 residents but for the past eight months they've been preparing to receive upwards of 100,000 tourists right here in the city now of course NASA has been a big part of that preparation so to show you what we've been doing to help I have a video here to show you so we have been talking to the next generation of Space Explorers right here in Arkansas we started off at Arkansas Technical University and then we moved on to Russellville City Schools where we spoke to hundreds of students all the way from 8th grade to 12th grade about this total solar eclipse we had NASA's Marshall space flight center the Arkansas Air National Guard the US Space and Rocket Center and even the Paris Observatory joining us all the way from France now during that moment of totality Arkansas will experience from 94 to 100% obscurity from the Sun and we'll have 4 minutes and 12 seconds to really soak in that fantastic Cosmic event now until that moment of course we are telling the residents to stay safe uh keep those solar eclipse glasses on but now let's go from Arkansas to Illinois with Blair Allen how are things looking for you Jasmine we're super excited here because Crowds Are filing into the stadium but the main story here is the weather everything looks absolutely good and clear for totality today we're very excited we're just hoping just like 2017 a little Cloud doesn't come in and obscure things but I tell you what there's been a total solar eclipse here in 2017 observation did not stop at SIU joining us now are two SIU students who actually did some observing this is Cali and Paige now Cali I know that you guys went to Australia and 2023 and you observed the the totality using an interesting technique can you tell us about that yeah so when we were in Australia we used a sunf funnel um to view it and what it does is it projects basically what the tele telescope is seeing onto a film and um so a sunf funnel is just basically a a funnel with two hose clamps and rear projection film and it just projects the Sun and we actually captured a picture of totality as that Eclipse was happening and it's pretty cool because it allows other people instead of them to go through the eyepiece you get to see it pretty impressive now Paige you guys are going to do some observation today what are you set up for here in Carbondale today yes so we have two telescopes set up with the sunf funnels for viewing for a select view of the public and right now we're pointed at the Sun and we're excited to see totality now what are your odds on good weather uh it's looking pretty good I'm excited is that great I'm so excited I tell you what one final question because I know you're experts with solar safety but team earth sun or moon we're both team Moon team Moon team Sun I tell you that's the best you're gonna get but we're all pro Eclipse uh back to you Tahira Let's go Team Moon so as you can see folks we've got a lot of exciting things in store all across this country and that was only half of it you're going to meet three three more of our locations later on in the show now Gina we've got a ton of questions coming in online right now from our viewers how do you feel about some Q&A let's answer some okay perfect let's do it so our NE our first question is from Fair Ros on Instagram who wants to know how can I help NASA you can help NASA by participating in the eclipse if you can see it today go outside enjoy the moment or download the globe Observer app you can do that right now before the eclipse crosses your path you need a thermometer and you just record the local temperatures and the cloud coverage fantastic Globe Observer app so thank you so much Gina and thank you to everybody sending in those questions we'll take some more later on throughout the show for now let's check back in with Megan and Sarah in Cleveland who are standing by with an out of this world surprise yes quite literally that to hea because we have a special treat for our viewers right now joining us live in space 250 miles above the Earth in the International Space Station everyone please help us welcome NASA astronauts Janette EPs and Mike Barrett Sarah you've been waiting I'm so excited oh there they hello everyone oh Janette Mike thank you for joining us hello everyone oh Jette mik thank you for joining us it's a pleasure to join you guys and uh I hope everybody appreciates NASA scheduling this uh Eclipse to bring the world together yes thank you so much to NASA and thank you so much for joining us now you guys will have three opportunities to view the Moon Shadow over North America and that last pass will give you guys the best views and we hope to also share those live views with everyone here on this broadcast around 3:30 p.m. eastern time now Janette have two questions for you are you looking forward to being one of the few people seeing Today's total solar eclipse from space and two I know your crew member Matt Dominic will use a camera with a solar filter to photograph the sun being eclipsed by the moon will you also be taking photos of the celestial alignment definitely taking pictures of the solar alignment um and I think we're very fortunate to be here at this um special vantage point to see such a special event at this time so I'm definitely excited what about you Mike what's going through your mind as you're preparing to to see such an all inspiring event well admittedly I'm a bit of an eclipse junkie uh you know my first one was like when I was 19 with the homemade telescope in the desert and uh a few since then and actually during the 2017 Eclipse I was on a chartered aircraft several hundred miles off the coast of Oregon watching it and I got a strange bucket list and this is one of the things that's on it to actually watch an eclipse Shadow across the Earth from space so I'm ecstatic to see this box get checked and and just to to see this amazing thing from up here yeah the fact that that was actually a box on your list is pretty amazing and then now it's getting checked so you know for those wondering this is what the Moon Shadow will look like to Janette and Mike uh we're going to show you video tap taken from the space station of the total solar eclipse in 2017 and you can clearly see the shadow moving across the top of your screen there from left to right we actually sped up the video so you can see more of that Transit this would look a lot slower to them but really cool Janette eclipses give us a unique opportunity to study the Sun and how it affects the Earth can you tell us about the atmospheric waves experiment attached to the outside of the space station right now sure um we have an atmospheric wave experiment that's going on now and what it looks at are these atmospheric gra gravity waves and these waves transport energy and momentum up through the climate system so with the imager with the imager on the atomic wave experiment we're going to look at how these atmospheric gravity gravity waves impact our earth's climate how it can can impact our our space and Global and all of our comms how it can affect our navigation system and so over the next two years researchers will use an infrared imager to look at the global distribution of these waves as well as their characteristics Mike how does it how does it feel to have a hand in maintaining the space station so that important uh science like the atmospheric waves experiment can happen well of course the main reason we're up here is actually to conduct that science we maintained the station to uh to keep this platform what it should be what it was built to be which is a vibrant U laboratory uh which covers so many different disciplines on the inside and the outside like the gravity waves experiment I mean it's a it's an honor and a privilege as much as anything to have a hand in that science and we end up being BAS basically the eyes the hands the onsite presence to conduct that science and we get to be the first to see results of just amazing things that are years in the making by a bunch of really smart ambitious uh scientific teams on the ground so that's really where the joy is uh maintaining the station is just like maintaining a research ship uh something I actually quite like uh so I feel very much at home in that uh in that role it's still blowing my mind I mean we're here in Cleveland Ohio live you guys are up in space in the International Space Station I can't believe believe the opportunity that uh has been afforded to us and I hope our viewers really enjoyed uh this time with you and I hope you enjoy the show from up there all right we have um but we do want to close by saying first of all we really enjoy being here but everybody stay safe uh and use the simple means to protect your eyes as you look at the eclipse as Janette and I are modeling here which makes us blind as a on the inside but solar protected on the outside so we encourage everyone to do the same really great advice from both of them thank you so much Sarah and I have our glasses and we're ready to go also blind if we don't do this all right again Janette Mike thank you so much and we actually have some time to take questions from the audience we have hash Eclipse that's how you can send questions to us so let us take a video from another curious kid we have watching hi my name is aent my question is why will we not see a total eclipse in California thank you it's a great question Adrien so we only a precious few today are going to get to see a total eclipse because the Moon is so much smaller than the earth it only casts a very narrow Shadow but still even in California you're going to get to see a partial eclipse and that is still a really cool event so I do encourage you to get out there uh and see it for yourself today yeah absolutely so again # Eclipse wherever you're watching us drop that in the comments and we'll try to get to as many questions as we can on the show okay so we have obviously people celebrating with us online uh and at events across the country so why don't we check out some of those events again now Waco Texas again people look very very comfortable in their camping chairs and spread out on picnic blankets huh look like they're having a good time yeah few clouds a few clouds but again they have some time there before Kennedy Space Center they will see a partial Cliffs we have some people walking around the Rocket Garden oh it looks like they have beautiful weather there California Academy of Sciences yes they do they have clear skies we're very very jealous over here and then the mentor Civic Amphitheater that's starting to starting to fill up exactly there were a fewer people when we checked in ago but now lots of people there and lots of people at the ader de Sky Center I wish I could wave and say hello they look like they're getting they're getting ready for some stuff though yeah absolutely again cleared out because there was snow over the weekend but now it looks like a beautiful probably still crisp day there for them okay and now we're back here with astronaut Steve bone who's looking around taking in the sight Steve I see I am just an amazing amount of people it's really cool to see yeah absolutely feel the energy and it's really cool that you're here so Steve is here because you know obviously as we've been saying throughout the show you really should have these glasses to safely view the eclipse but if you don't have glasses that's why Steve is here so Steve I see that you brought brought some supplies for us I did I have a little bit for everybody we'll see how we can do here today all right so this is like a pinhole viewer and so it's a basically a pinhole camera I don't know if you ever had to do that when you were a kid is make a little camera by basically poking a hole in a piece of paper okay and then using that to focus on to a screen and so well we all have pins here I guess so we have a paper plate we have index card and we have pins and I have my Cru six pin nice nice all right so what do we do Steve basically all you have to do is poke a hole in the in the cardboard okay and the size of the hole will determine the focal length the focal distance of your viewer and it has to be big enough that the light will come through and it's uh it's sometimes hard to do if we don't have like direct sunlight so you want to make sure you have a big big enough hole I think that' probably be enough and then which you'll end up doing if we had the sun you could basically over your shoulder don't look at the sun M Sun behind us and so you hold this up and you'll see you can actually get there it is I can see we do see it with the lights the St light you need a little bit and then depending on how far in and out you move it and the sides of the hole that gives you your focal length got it just like a lens and basically like we're saying with the studio lights if something were were to pass over the studio lights that same uh um Shadow essentially would BEP or would be projected through absolutely the index card right now that's how you safely watch that is a good safe way to watch it there's a lot of other ways to see it as well I know that I have that I'm prepared right yeah so that's a lot of fun because if you uh if you're in a very an open area like this today and you you don't have your glasses or you just want to see something really cool again put it over your shoulder and hold it you'll get a a big array of all those little eclipses happening on the ground below you yeah actually I think we have a picture of that I'd love to see that because really it is a very yeah perfect look at that Steve oh yeah well I mean even if you don't have anything right you can actually use your hands to make your own sort of improvised pinhole camera absolutely that's amazing and you know I I I was explaining a little bit ago that uh in my own yard during the last the annual Eclipse when I was I was out working in the yard and I said hey is there an anular eclipse going on so I went under a tree and I was looking had the tree and then on my driveway all these little eclipses just hundreds of them abely amazing great so I hope if people have trees near them they can take a look at that Steve thank you so much for being here we really appreciate have a great day all right so the eclipse is getting closer and closer to the West Coast of Mexico we will experience totality there at uh ma maalan in particular 2:07 p.m. eastern time so let's head back over to James at our e clipse board for another look at the path of totality yeah thanks so much Megan a lot coming up very soon and make sure you know exactly when to go outside to observe that totality if you're on our path or even right now if you're experiencing a partial eclipse I've got in our Eclipse Explorer here I can zoom out just a hair here to show you this I've got our pen Umbra on so this is all the places inside here already experiencing a partial eclipse you've been seeing some great feeds from our camera in mazat Lan Mexico they've been experiencing that kind of Crescent Sun for a little while now they're just about 20 minutes out from actually experiencing totality itself they're going to have a long window where they are 4 minutes and 17 seconds for some back in 2017 the last Eclipse that swept Across America the longest time was only around 2 minutes and 40 seconds that was in Carbondale this time around some very long times just a little bit Northwest of toron Mexico they're going to get upwards of 4 and2 minutes a lot of time to really observe it but just make sure that you know when to be outside and as always access that tool at go. nasa.gov Eclipse explore this is going to keep moving on you see this little thing I have this actually running in real time this is our shadow of totality this is going to continue to move further and further to the Northeast and actually make landfall in just a few moments in mazatan Mexico as you've seen all throughout the broadcast we've got correspondents all up and down the us all the way up to Maine covering this live very excited to continue tracking this make sure you know what's going on here but for now back to you Megan all right thank you James so now let's introduce you to more of our correspondents along the path starting first with NASA's Lauren Ward standing by to show us what's happening in Indianapolis Indiana that's right thanks Megan we are at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indianapolis Indiana it is a gorgeous day behind me I have over 50,000 people here to spectate today today we are waiting for a spectacle that is of a Celestial kind of course this is most known for the Indie 500 but we are waiting for something a little bit special today with me I have the6 Indianapolis Motor Speedway winner Alexander rosi good to see you good to see you thank you so much for having me it's great to have you so The Helio big year is a celebration of sun science and how the Sun touches everything including IMS so tell me the track when you're doing a qualifying round is about 4 minutes long which coincidentally is the length of totality so tell us what is it like being on the track you know what the uh the sun plays a huge role and determining the performance of the car um based on the track conditions so we actually when it's a day like this as much as it's beautiful for the fans it's actually very difficult for us as drivers because as the surface heats up the oils come to the top of the asphalt and it actually becomes slippier so that's surprising to people they think the temperature would mean grip but it it is until a certain point and then once it kind of crosses over 100° on the surface you start to actually go the other way wow and tell me about those tires how does the Sun affect those so when they're so we use slick tires so Firestone tires are slick um on a road car you have tread right because they're supposed to used in all conditions slick tires actually have a bigger contact patch more surface area so they generate more grip at a temperature right so they operate between 180 to 230° fhe um again the sun is good until a point when they go over that 230° Mark you start to lose that grip again ooo all right well we have a little competition going on today we're trying to determine whose big day is it is it the sun's the moons or the Earth so my question to you is are you team Sun team moon or team Earth that's a that's a hard one but I'm going to go team Earth you know I just think we're so lucky especially today with the people that are around us here to be able to witness what we're about to see um go Earth go Earth you here here first all right guys thanks we'll be back here Daryl in Niagara over to you all right thank you very much Lauren just 500 mil Northeast of you we are here at Niagara Falls right next to the Niagara River this is a special location for a lot of people because it is a once in a-lifetime opportunity to see a natural wonder set against a Celestial one the solar eclipse and so let's talk first of all about the natural wonder and it all starts right here look at this massive River and the amount of water that's moving through here a half million gallons of water half million bathtubs actually going over the falls at every 60 seconds it's tremendous the flow here it interacts with the air it hits the rocks and it also you know it flows up a Mis column that is omnipresent this is always here so one of the things that Eclipse Watchers want to see is how does it interact with the light will we have a pink rainbow because only prominences from the sun will be seen and they're pink we'll have to see about that one thing we do need is a little bit better Cloud uh clearing around here because we do have some cloud cover but that's okay people who have gathered here are excited and they're hopeful that it will clear who's here well I want to show you our camera from about 500 ft away look at all my friendly Eclipse Watchers are you guys ready for an eclipse yeah W I love the energy we we could use this energy to blow the clouds out of here as our camera backs out you're looking at TP and point and this is the lawn here it's roughly the size of a football field and everybody who's here a lot of people came in at 6:00 a.m. this morning they currently cut off the park from anybody from coming further into Goat Island here so this is the Max Capacity that we're at right now it's that popular over to the other side our friends from Canada look across the River Gorge about 1,000 ft away Niagara Parkway is lined with people so it's beautiful shot over there and we really appreciate our Canadian friends who have joined us now this isn't just about the solar eclipse we've been here for the past week and we were at locations all across Niagara Falls 12 to be exact take a look at this video crowds of people packed the Niagara State Park Welcome Center where Commander munin Campos the mannequin who flew around the moon during the emis 1 Test Flight in 2022 was on display our partners at the Canadian space agency sent kids virtually to space all week long and NASA experts from the Kennedy Space Center gave presentations and talks at places like the Niagara Aerospace Museum and libraries across the area the Outreach was a huge success with thousands of people participating in the events and passing through our exhibits and we just want to thank everyone who came out to see us at all our locations and we hope you left a little inspired about space exploration and a little wiser about all NASA's missions okay coming up we've got a very special guest for you who's going to share the eclipse with us CSA astronaut Jeremy Hansen he's going around the star today the Moon not the star of the Sun the moon the star of the show I should say he's going to be here he's interacting with the public we're going to get his thoughts on totality along with everybody else who is here and we're pumped and excited right everybody we ready for the clips can you hear the excitement all right now I'm going to send it 800 miles to the Northeast to my colleague Angelique hering who is in Holton Maine where I hear you have some pretty good weather hello Daryl and welcome welcome everybody to Maine that's right we do have some great weather we are here in Maine and actually we're about 3 miles away from the Canadian border and also about the last stop on I95 North so we're the northmost spot for today's Eclipse broadcast at least in the United States and so hello from way up North now just like Daryl said we do have some excellent weather here in Maine today we've been here for a couple of days and it's actually been pretty wintry right up until about yesterday we had snow it was prettyy cold but you know what today the sun is out the skies are blue and it's looking like perfect conditions for an eclipse or as the MERS would say wicked good weather now we're actually standing here in Market Square in Maine and we are outside of the temple theater where it has actually been in operation since 1919 over the last 150 years of its operation it's seen everything from silent films to burlesque shows and today it's got a more celest steel show with the eclipse now the last Eclipse to come through Maine was actually in 1963 and that eclipse is only visible for about a minute in contrast today's Eclipse will be visible for at least just about 3 minutes or so so everyone here is going to have a lot of time to take in the celestial show really soak in the event and the next eclipse won't be coming through Maine until 2079 so makes a lot of sense that we've got a lot of people here really excited to see this once in a generation opportunity and event we're all excited I know everybody here is excited so we'll be here waiting for the moment that we've all been waiting for the eclipse with that back over to you Megan hey thank you everyone it was really cool to see everyone along the path of totality you can tell we're covering a large swath of land because everybody's in different kind of attire you know you have short sleeve shirt somewhere and then you have like Daryl who's who it looks very very cold and he does have some cloud cover so I hope that it does kind of clear out for him fig I feel like we've covered all of those levels of weather over the last day and a half that's true here in Cleveland so but it's looking nice now so that's great and actually if you uh were watching our screen here we just had a view of the uh eclipse in mazatan Mexico in about 10 minutes that's when we start seeing totality in that area and in that time the US's top doctor is encouraging everyone to try and watch this Celestial event for our physical and mental well-being hi everyone I'm US Surgeon General Dr VI morti I'm thrilled to be joining you today as you gather to experience a truly awe inspiring event the last chance that we'll have to see a total solar eclipse in the contiguous United States for the next 20 years the sun is a universal source of light and life it contributes to our physical mental and emotional well-being and it unites all of us today no matter where you're watching from whether it's along the path of totality or a partial solar eclipse you are sharing the experience with Millions Across the Nation and moments of connectedness like this truly matter last year I issued a surgeon general's advisory warning about the Public Health crisis posed by loneliness and isolation I share that our connection with one another is a powerful force that can help protect against the damaging physical and mental health impacts of loneliness what better reason is there to come together with friends and loved ones than to share a once in a generation experience like the solar eclipse this is an experience that will stay with you precisely because of the awe that it inspires awe allows us to step outside of ourselves giving us fresh perspective and opening us up to connections so grab your eclipse glasses and let's enjoy this moment together some great advice thank you so much all right we have time for other # Eclipse questions Sarah are you ready hi I'm absolutely ready all right let's take a look at this video from a familiar face hey everyone I'm Scarlet Johansson and I play a NASA public affairs director in the new film Fly Me to the Moon I hope everyone is safely enjoying today's Eclipse I actually have a question about the moon for NASA so during a total solar eclipse I've heard that craters and features on the moon play a role in what viewers see on Earth when the moon blocks the Sun so why is that question Scarlet so yeah as we you know the moon isn't isn't a smooth marble it actually has big high mountains and and valleys these craters and as we approach totality sometimes you'll hear people talk about Bailey's beads and these are the last few moments of sun creeping through those those deep valleys uh just before we hit totality yeah absolutely thank you so much it's so great to have you here to answer some of these questions and we plan to take more if you send them in # Eclipse again okay if you're just joining us I'm NASA's Megan Cruz and this is NASA lunar scientist Sarah Noble and as you can see you are watching the official NASA broadcast for Today's total solar eclipse and we are in the heart of downtown Cleveland where NASA is celebrating the celestial alignment take a look at our shot from the air that is how many people who are just here at the Great Lake Science Center alone so many more spread out throughout Cleveland because again the last time this city had a total solar eclipse was 1806 but again just down the road we have the only NASA Center in the path of totality when it comes to NASA I think a lot of people initially think of rocket launches in Cape canaval or astronauts floating above the Earth in the International Space Station but there's a lot of research and engineering and testing that needs to happen before anything can fly and we have those capabilities super Sonic wind tunnels microgravity drop Towers vacuum Chambers and a research aircraft hanger and that's why people from all over the world come to NASA's Glen research center right here in Cleveland Ohio what we work on power propulsion Communications you need it for anything that flies we like to say the road to the moon goes through Ohio and that's because our test facilities are crucial to advancing the Artemis program part of our vision for going back to the moon and establishing a sustainable presence is having a lunar Gateway a lunar space station can fly successfully around the moon and sustain astronauts there and we are leading the program that's developing the power and propulsion element NASA's Neil Armstrong test facility in sandeski Ohio it's the only place in the world where you can test a fullsize spacecraft for all the extreme conditions of launch and space flight right now we have the oran spacecraft this is a spacecraft that actually went around the moon but we're using it as a test article now to make make sure that in the launch environment that spacecraft is safe when it comes to Aviation uh every us plane has NASA Glen technology on board which makes your flight cleaner safer and quieter and looking at Solutions like electric and hybrid electric propulsion systems that will reduce or give us different ways of converting energy that are cleaner our Center Partners with a lot of community organizations to share NASA's discoveries or just get kids excited about sence science engineering technology and math I really enjoyed the VR experience it was really cool to be able to sit like I was an actual Pilot Flying I feel like I could potentially look into considering Aerospace we've also made it our mission to prepare Cleveland for the April 8th total Soler Eclipse we demonstrated different types of Hands-On activities for educators to share with their students as well as the science behind a total solar eclipse my favorite thing about Glenn is our people not only are they crazy smart but they are genuinely good people and we are literally part of almost everything NASA does and so what's really great about being here is you're in the heart of it [Music] all and joining us live is now NASA administrator Bill Nelson so great to have you here for this Celestial event thumbs up thumbs up from the administrator now administrator why are solar eclipses so uh unique such a unique opportunity to study our son because because you have the alignment of three celestial bodies and uh unique things happen when that occurs and it has a profound effect here on Earth just think about it the middle of the day all of a sudden it gets totally dark and US earthlings are not accustomed to that and nor are the other little earthlings right all the animals uh but it's also an opportunity for us to study much more one of those celestial bodies and that's our star our sun in our star in our solar system and we can find out more about that gaseous explosion that's coming out from the core of the Sun when we can see it better and we can see it better because we're not looking at the bright ball you're suddenly looking at that Corona that mass of gases that are coming out from the edge of the sun right and you don't have to be a scientist right to to to study this event right how do we get help from people across the country to help us study these things well by asking them make a note of anything that you observe and then share that with us all right an administrator you know we have to take precautions when viewing a solar eclipse remind everyone what should we should be doing today okay you've got some glasses that's right um the glasses are ready absolutely essential uh you want to put these on as it is starting to have that Moon move in front of the Sun and we don't want you to damage your eyes right and uh it's incredible you put these glasses on and in the normal Sun of the day you can't see a thing can't see a thing but when you look at the sun you will be protected administrator thank you so much we really appreciate your time here and now we're going to head it back over to James at the eclipse board yeah the countdown is on just a few moments left until the eclipse makes landfall in Mazatlan Mexico right here you can see where that Eclipse totality Shadow is right here it's going to continue moving very rapidly onwards to toron where we also have a live feed covering all of this events super excited for that big moment and let me actually just go to our moon board here and we can play through this at 60 times speed I'll zoom in a little bit here and Scarlett Johansson had a question a bit earlier about the kind of Rippling effect that we see of the eclipse Shadow when you first see this right here at first glance you might think it's low resolution or we're lacking some kind of information here the inverse is actually true this is actually incredibly high resolution this Shadow projection that we have because of data that we've been gathering at our moon for more than 10 years thanks to an Orbiter called the lunar reconnaissance Orbiter it's been mapping our nearest neighbor in incredible resolution just really getting every single bit of Valley or Crater or Mountain all of those little imperfections on the moon are contributing to that shadow that we see Rippling across the country you're not going to be able to see that from the ground but looking from space you see that really cool effective kind of the Rippling there here so let's just preview some things to come here mazat Lan they have that last little crescent sliver of sun for now if you're in that area make sure you keep your glasses on until that sun is completely blocked out by the moon that's going to be in just a few moments you're going to have a long duration there 4 minutes and 17 seconds that sounds like a lot of time but it's going to move like that so make sure you are ready on the pulse again for all of our locations up on this path of totality here too make sure you set a timer on your watch or a phone or something to remind yourself to look outside and experience this you don't want to miss this if you do miss it you got a long time to wait for the next big one across America that's going to be in 2045 so make sure you're watching and watching safely here you just saw some footage from cville and Cleveland as well it's a little bit cloudy in some places really hoping that that clears out in time for us to have that beautiful view but in just a few moments right here this eclipse is going to be coming up in mazalan Mexico so for now this is going to be really exciting the countdown is on so for mazalan this is the last little bit here again I'm always keeping an eye on that weather and also one little note about our tool here too if you wanted to see this little icon kind of previews what the uh expected eclipse is going to look like at that given time all these little googly eye features are clickable hyper linkable you can kind of click on that it'll snap you right to that exact time to get an idea for what it's going to look like in your neck of the woods but for now the big moments coming up back to you Megan let's check it out all right thank you James and as you can see wow we just have a tiny little faint sliver left of the Sun in mazatan Mexico we are expecting totality in a minute and 35 5 Seconds you know joining us now to walk us through this Kelly coric an astrophysicist from NASA's heliophysics division Kelly tell us about the science NASA is about to conduct right now in mazatan so science uh that they're going to conduct is uh about the wb-57 so we're going to fly some planes over and make sure that we can actually see that solar Corona that uh those at that hot atmosphere uh that's around the Sun that we're about to get once uh we reach totality yeah and it looks like uh it's yes it's almost there uh you know we have a view right now of inside the cockpit of one of the WB 57s or at least we're effting one because as you said this is going to be a huge part of what we do in mazatan definitely yeah it's the uh oh there it is there is oh look at that view oh that's great we're looking out and it looks like we might be able to we're seeing a lot of clouds but hopefully a shadow as well as we're coming into totality there um and so yeah so these WB 57s are carrying three different instruments or three different uh experiments two to look at the Sun and want to look at our atmosphere because our atmosphere actually responds to the eclipse and we're trying to figure out how that ionosphere that layer of the atmosphere actually responds to it and you said it does look like there's already a shadow over land you know we also have a shot and we'd like to pull that up now a shot of the coast and the fact that it's already going on over and you know what's really cool about all of this is we do we do have eyes all over this thing because we are collecting so much data yeah definitely I mean we have the the stuff here we also have Rockets on the other side of the country being launched so again study that oh look at that that's the diam the diamond ring right beautiful we're not there but I feel the energy just watching it uh yeah so this is the because of the craters and the Peaks and valleys and the moon uh we're seeing the last bits that are just getting through and now we're getting to totality ah this is great so you're starting to see those pink Fingers um out there kind of sticking out wow so again totality here and Maz Mexico the First Community in North America to experience the moon completely eclipsing the Sun and if you are in Mazatlan right now it is now safe to remove your eclipse glasses for the next four minutes and you mentioned some of those pink filaments that we're seeing right can you talk us a little bit through that Kelly yeah so those pink filaments um they because they're helium Rich that's why they're they're appearing pink and they're they're hanging out there those could be the start of space weather so there uh lots of tons of material billions of tons of material that could possibly be one of those explosions for space weather the reasons why we really study the Sun and try to understand how to live with the sun well can you explain why space weather is important to us here on Earth definitely so it's not just satellites that need that uh are are interested in space weather it's also our power grids because of those energetic particles coming from those those uh big explosions that can happen in the sun um that could damage our power grids it could uh also uh do things like interfere with GPS signals and I know we all use our phones to navigate everywhere um so we didn't have that that would be a big a big problem so we're uh looking to understand it better so we can all mitigate all those things some of the movement we're seeing here is just our telescope operator adjusting because again they needed to make some changes for before totality now they're viewing it a different way and then after totality we might see some shakes there as well but I really just cannot believe how how crisp it is as we said it's not a marble but I mean just the view of it is so crisp with these little uh again those filaments are just amazing that we can see that to to such accuracy you know right definitely and also the F the white fuzz I mean that's you're seeing something that's a million degrees just hanging out all around the Sun and you know three uh what is it three million Earths can fit inside of there so there's a lot of there's a lot of atmosphere there um all around there just hanging out uh being very warm and so how you one of our Mysteries is and one of the the b57 are addressing there you go WB 57 Pilot our pilot he's flying so basically Kelly he is going to fly and try to to to chase down the shadow for as long as possible keep up with it as long as possible exactly the shadow is much faster than the plane however they can chase it for a while and get an extra 2 minutes so on the ground we can only get four and a half minutes and they're going to get six and a half for that plane I love that they're waving to us oh there you go and now we're flipped now we're seeing the front so again they are in night I mean it looks very dark with only some light on in the Horizon yeah right yeah and that's what we'll expect uh wherever we see totality is is the night sky is very very dark you might even see some planets or stars um and then you'll see like Twilight all around in 360° mhm what an amazing Vantage Point as well my gosh I'm very jealous Kelly are you jealous I kind of feel like kind of a little jealous yeah I kind of want to you know see if I can make a faster plane so we can you know follow it all the whole way plus they're up above the clouds so they don't have to worry about the clouds exactly well I do want to say a big thank you to the WB 57 pilots and the whole team supporting them for that great view that was awesome Kelly you know you have a wealth of knowledge when it comes to the Sun and and for those watching if you're interested in learning more with her check out her and other experts featured in the sun series of NASA's curious Universe podcast and that QR code will pop up on the scen screen and that'll take you straight to the episodes again look at that double box we got there we're showing you amazing views during this broadcast a big thank you actually to the solar system exploration research virtual Institute or survey for providing the telescope use from maon yeah the survey team down there the survey team is based out of as but is a collection of of teams across the country and across the world that are sort of studying this the intersection of Science and exploration helping us get ready for our next trip with humans to the Moon yeah that's amazing okay totality is actually about to end in mazatan let's keep watching our screen right now for again what are we watching for Kelly uh we're watching for the diamond ring effect so that's when the first bright light we're starting to see it on the side there um so you're going to put your glasses on right now to protect those beautiful eyes um because now we're going back to the partial phase that's amazing wow Kelly that's a filter by the way everyone that's why we're seeing that but when you said put on your glasses I'm so trained now to do it that I that I almost did it here in Cleveland no we're fine in Cleveland we're still in mazatan again what we're seeing is because we needed to adjust the filter now that again we are it's basically like putting on our glasses the way that you said people on the ground need to put on our glasses our telescope operators need to protect their own eyes as well as their equipment exactly well thank you so much Kelly I really appreciate your time here with us it was so fun to learn about the science and actually see the first eclipse come uh for uh North America here so thank you so much than you all right as you can see there's a lot to learn about our sun and eclipses so to explain it all in a really fun way for kids NASA developed a clever game called Snap it we have another QR code coming on your screen right now just scan that code or if you're watching us on your phone all you have to do is screen grab it press on it later and uh you can check out that game also the website if that's easier for you go. nasa.gov it okay so NASA can predict the total solar eclipse's path to a high degree of accuracy because of a spacecraft that launched nearly 15 years ago this same Spa spacecraft is now helping our Artemis 2 astronauts who'll be orbiting the moon next year NASA 's next step in establishing a long-term presence on the moon is sending four astronauts to fly around it with the Artemis 2 mission part of the crew's training has been to study images from NASA's lunar reconnaissance Orbiter or lro the spacecraft launched in 2009 and continues to use seven instruments including a highresolution camera to help us learn more about the moon's surface because of lro we now know more about the moon's topography Ry than any other planetary body in the solar system including Earth the Artemis 2 crew used lro data and photographs to learn how to identify lunar landmarks they'll see from orbit and to seek out sites of scientific interest like possible Landing spots for future explorers while helpful for planning Artemis missions people back here on Earth also use lro to predict the shape of the Moon Shadow or Umbra during total solar eclipses the Moon Shadow will change throughout the eclipse depending on the lunar terrain and the elevations of observers on Earth people may even see what looks like an arc of solar diamonds around the Moon as sunlight Peaks through lunar features like craters that's a look at your Artemis Moon minute all right joining us on the hostess now is a familiar face here oh actually we have sorry Snoopy oh I just revealed that it's Snoopy well I just want to wave real quick to the crowd here at the Great Lake Science Center just outside of our host desk waving at us waving at the C I'm waving back at them like they can see me uh but I did just spoil the surprise we do have snoopy here our chief uh safety officer here at Nasa and he's here to tell us how to safely watch the eclipse so Snoopy if we were to watch the eclipse today before totality where should we what should we do that's right you should have your glasses on that's right well and what about during totality Snoopy can we take them off then yeah let me help you out here oh Snoopy there I can see your shining bright eyes I love Snoopy he's so funny now Snoopy I have to ask you a question okay so today we've been polling everybody asking for the total solar eclipse today who is the big star of the show right is it the Earth is it the Earth is it the Moon it is it the sun okay but you have to pick one you have to pick one you have to pick one you don't you don't want to pick one all of them all of them are great that's right subie thank you so much I know you're super excited to see the total solar eclipse today we're glad to have you here bye all right now let's head back over to Tahira in kville Texas all right thanks Megan I mean what an incredible view from maiton Mexico and folks as you can see in your screen right now we are less than 1 minute away from the eclipse crossing over toron Mexico Gina how fast is this Moon Shadow moving right now I mean it's it's flying it's going about 1,00 mph as we're chasing it across the US that is incredible and so you know in Mazon we were able to see the diamond ring effects from so hopefully we'll be able to see that in in ton right now yeah we're watching that live feed yes just to see this this sliver crossing over the moon that's right we're getting so close there hopefully we'll see that diamond ring too wow look at this and so we're about 10 seconds away here we go let's take it in wow what a spectacular going into totality wow there you have it we are in yep that diamond ring came through and we see a little bit of those Bailey beads too as we're looking at it those kind of the lights trickling through around the surface of the Moon coming through the the Peaks and valleys so what is a what are we viewing on the left hand side this this almost pink color effect right and so as we just heard from the last totality you know these pink fingers are popping out a little bit and those are those solar prominences they're appearing pink because of the the helium Rich oh but we can see let's focus on the Corona here that glow that we're getting and we can see basically these streams that are coming out a lot of that energy and brightness that we do not have the ability to see on a day-to-day basis so with this total eclipse we're able to see that Corona nice and bright coming through in ton that is just a like magical view oh my goodness Gina Gina okay and so let's take we've got so many questions coming in online right now from viewers watching this our first one is going to be from Justin who wants to know you know right now we are seeing a pretty clear and spectacular view of a total solar eclipse but Justin wants to know what will it look like if it's clouded over right so the view that we're getting right now you won't be able to see that if it's clouded over but you will have effects going on right you'll get a change in the temperature so the temperature will drop it'll still get darker as well it's already getting dark here I mean we we have some cloud coverage right and we're feeling a little extra wind it's noticeably darker despite the clouds that we have so you'll get some of those environmental effects even if it's cloudy where you are and to great followup you know we've got Halloween ghoul on YouTube who wants to know again will the temperature change during totality which I know you mentioned that it will get a little bit Co cooler but do you know about how many degrees we can expect yeah you know it depends on the location the humidity multiple factors but it can change by about 10° or so depending where you are maybe even a little bit more than that and you know we're feeling a little chilly kind of where we're sitting compared to what it was earlier and I mean I'm just staring at this view of totality that we have in ton so we're about halfway through totality right now in ton Mexico and again I know folks said that this is almost double totality than 2017 right that's right that's right and so in 17 we had a little more than 2 minutes so we're lucky enough this time that we have over 4 minutes in some places too this is so beautiful and so our next question from sabelle on Instagram wants to know why is the sun more active right now so the sun is more active because we have an 11-year solar cycle the Sun goes from solar maximum to solar minimum where it's changing its level of activity oh and as you're seeing the screen yes so I see and that the bottom right there we can see that prominence extending out and as we heard earlier in maon you know that is potentially the beginning of space weather activity so we're talking about solar maximum if there's a time to see any of that space weather activity during the total solar this is the time to do it so let's watch that as we go through totality and our other locations too and maybe we'll be lucky to see some of these features change for us that is so beautiful it is and so Gina too you know how um we're in a we're in a higher cycle uh solar cycle right now how many years you know is that fluctuation the the solar cycle goes on for 11 years when it peaks in activity and that's where we are where the latest predictions are that we will reach that maximum sometime this year and then it'll decrease in activity going back down to solar minimum and so Gina I've got time for one more quick question from Christopher on X who wants to know which other planets have the best eclipses oh okay well that's right so eclipses don't only happen on Earth let's talk about Mars for the fact that Mars does have eclipses when the moon crosses in front of Mars Mars has two moons and the The Rovers on the surface have captured images of those but no other planet has a view quite like this right nope that is special for us just the distance and the size of the Moon makes it such that it will completely block the Sun as it's doing today wow and you can see there's that diamond ring effect as we are coming out of totality and toron what an incredible wow it's a bright one too look at that that is a bright one so is this a this is what a Bailey's bead or so that that's going to be that diamond ring just how bright it is Bailey beads are a little bit smaller as they kind of bubble over the surface but folks who are in that location should have those safety viewing glasses back on so that they can now view the partial eclipse that they are experiencing well that is fantastic and you know the next time we see this Eclipse it's going to be right here in kville Texas so folks to countdown is on we've got about 10 minutes until we see this with our own eyes in yes big moment right here in kville for now let's check back in with Lauren at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway thanks to Hero we are getting close to eclips oursel but for now we have a very special guest NASA's very own Pam melroy Deputy Administrator and former astronaut Pam it's good to see you oh it's great to be here I'm so excited it's very exciting so was it like being an Indianapolis for an exciting event like this well it's a beautiful day here and I love the fact that we're here with thousands of people in the Indianapolis Motor Speedway but we're joining with millions of people around America looking up together to the sky absolutely and tell me is this your first Eclipse it's not my first Eclipse but it will be my first totality I've seen several partial eclipses but there's something mystical and mysterious and in ways unifying about a total eclipse and we're all going to feel it together absolutely we could not have looked out more on this weather today so as a former astronaut we know that sun Science and Space weather are very important to keeping our astronauts safe what is um space weather and why do we care about it what is NASA doing to study it yeah that's right it's actually very important it is of concern for astronauts who are in space because they experience the radiation of the Sun that comes from solar flare and solar weather but the reality is it's also affecting life here on Earth it impacts the upper reaches of our atmosphere called the ionosphere which is an electrified part of our atmosphere that is a conduit for communications um it's it's critically important it can even affect power grids and of course if you ever have seen the Northern Lights you've seen the effect of solar weather so but really the focus for today is where that solar weather starts and that's in the corona the sun's atmosphere it's very unusual and we don't exactly know what's happening because the sun's atmosphere is millions of degrees hotter than the surface of the Sun so we are hoping to learn today more about how that happens and why that happens so that we can better predict those solar flares and those things that impact us here on Earth yeah that's all extremely important and something that we're learning a lot today too Pam thank you very much for joining us today thank you as we've learned solar eclipses are very important to learn for many many reasons we have radio telescope operators who are studying the eclipse today for this very reason let's take a look at that work when the moon blocks the Sun during a solar eclipse there is a noticeable impact on Earth's upper atmosphere known as the ionosphere these changes can affect radio communications including amateur radio also known as ham radio ham radio is a way you can talk to people all around the world you set up a radio and antenna you talk into the radio the radio sends a signal up to the antenna the antenna sends the signal up to the sky it bounces off of the electrified layer of the sky back down to Earth where you can talk to the person on the other side during the 2024 total solar eclipse the hamsi citizen science project is inviting ham radio operators to transmit radio signals the goal is to have people make as many radio contacts as they can with operators in different locations during the celestial event by recording how strong their radio signals are and how far they go hammer radio operators and scientists can learn about how the ionosphere changes during solar eclipses sometimes you can talk around the world and sometimes you can't and that's all based on what the ionosphere is doing what the sun is doing when it works and you are able to talk to these far away places I find that really magical to learn how you can participate follow do NASA science on X and Facebook and we are minutes away from the total solar eclipse Over kville Texas the temperature is dropping as you can be had to throw on a jacket the sky is dimming we're on the edge of our seats and we are joined now with astronaut and commander of the Artemis 2 mission to the Moon Reed wisman Reed it's an honor to have you here thank you the crowd noise like the fact that the sun is behind the clouds most of the time and peeking out this is it's so wonderful I know thanks for being here you can as you can hear like we are ready we right there so exciting so tell us read you know obviously everybody is excited but have you seen a total solar eclipse before never a total so I will share this Darkness with you this whole crowd the first time my go wowow this is incredible so to you know what considerations do you and your fellow astronauts need to think about when related to the sun when traveling back to the Moon oh was great to see uh Pam melroy on your last clip a dear friend of mine so it's was nice to see Pam's face over there but when we're heading out to the sun it's really radiation is our big thing that we're I'm sorry as we're heading out to the moon it's really the solar radiation that we're most thinking about there as the danger from from the Sun and the Apollo Astronauts dealt with it and we've dealt with it for a long time on the International Space Station and we have a lot of data from the Moon from our our NASA probes that have gone out out there and collecting so we think we know what we'll encounter mhm great okay and tell me Reed how does it feel to be the commander of NASA's first crude Mission going back to the Moon Apollo I flying with Victor Glover Christina cook and Jeremy Hansen the three best te I know so every day that I go into work I won't say every day is easy but every day is fun and I'm flying with people that have principles they have integrity and they have just so much knowledge and professionalism it's a dream come true and getting to work with the whole team the international team H it's the best wow well thank you so much for being here with us Reed you know really quickly do you have any advice for anybody that might want to follow in your footsteps one day uh we always say that you have to find that job that you love go all in on it live your best life be as good a a professional as you can and someday apply for the program and we look forward to seeing your application come across our desk thank you Reed and good luck on your upcoming Mission thank you great to be here now if anybody feels like reaching for the Stars NASA is actually currently accepting applications to be an astronaut you could one day travel to the Moon and eventually to Mars from teachers to scientists to even those in our Armed Forces we are looking for a diverse group to take human to humanity farther into the cosmos you can apply now through April 16th by visiting go. nasa.gov asro 2024 now timing is everything when it comes to pulling off successful science during an event like today let's hear from a very special guest who also knows a thing or two about perfect alignments hi I'm Paul D young shortstop for the Chicago White Socks what does it take to do my job you got to know your physics I specialize in predicting the path of fast moving objects at a split-second pace at my position it's key to know exactly where and when two paths will cross just like NASA needs to know when the Earth Moon and Sun will align to predict a solar eclipse working it all out on the Whiteboard is one thing ready solar eclipse delay at volcano Stadium but seeing it in action is a whole other ball game and on April 8th you can see just what I mean as a total solar eclipse crosses the United States NASA has mapped the detailed shape of the Moon surface so we you know exactly where the Moon Shadow will fall and you know where to be to see the eclipse in person even if it's from the stands don't miss your chance to experience the beauty of Science and action and maybe catch a ball [Music] game you actually can't see it we are 2 minutes about 2 minutes under 2 minutes actually away from to it here in kville Texas which will Mark the start of our Eclipse coverage Across America now folks we have a little bit of cloud coverage right now in kville so we are showing the Dallas feed but again we're holding out hope Gina and I are thrilled to be here with Dr Nia Fox who is the associate administrator of NASA science Mission directorate Nikki thank you for being here oh I I wouldn't be anywhere else thanks for being here Nikki so tell us how the science conducted today will really impact the future of exploration at Nasa science oh wow there's so much that we're going to be doing today uh we're going to be studying the sun we're going to be studying the Earth's atmosphere and how that changes you can see it getting dark here and um you know we've got we've got these little magnetometers they're going to be all across we have 30 of them all the way across um I'm going to hold it up very nice love magnetometers magnetometers and um we're going to we're going to be having these all the way across the path of totality and it sounds like we should get up oh my goodness less than a minute oh my goodness wow okay all right glasses on Nikki uh yes yeah glass is on but we're about to get yeah there's some cloud coverage there some cloud coverage trying to peek out it's trying it is trying it is trying it is getting dark here the wind's picked up you could actually see the birds started flying in a very weird pattern a minute ago good um come on clouds yes you know I might have to switch to team Sun come on oh my goodness we're there we're nearly there okay we go wow the crowd is counting down [Music] yes oh my gosh Corona yes oh my goodness that is amazing I told you no go away clouds go away clouds that oh my goodness goodness I have been saying all day look how dark look how dark it is around here yeah it is just this white ring just a white ring yeah it's so dark it is so dark so better wow planes and helicopters and drones [Music] CLS are going to clear for us that yes yes oh my God look at that just look at that and we have about what four minutes fast and 25 seconds to be a I mean this really again reminds you that we are on this one planet you know in this larger system it's and you have to be on this planet to see what we're seeing you do that's why we are team sun earth and moon because you need the moon for an eclipse you need the Sun for an eclipse and we're standing on the earth to see it oh man so all of NASA science represented by a total solar eclipse and something that what over 30 million of us today at least in the path of to at least able to witness this people living in the path of totality so imagine how many people actually traveled here yes absolutely yes this is getting me extra excited about all the science that all the science that we're doing yes yes all right those clouds are playing tricks on us those clouds are being pretty mean yes it was nice to get a taste though wow it's true yes so dark we've got everybody looking up I'm so happy that you know for folks that travel able to see this take place that's right and it's been such a great atmosphere here all day every time the sun comes out everybody cheers cheering counting down it has been incredible and so wow that's true oh Nikki what's your favorite part about these about an eclipse is this is this your first no this is my second one uh 2017 um I was in Nebraska and I saw it there but I think there's just it's you can you can study the sun you can study the corona but suddenly you see it with your own eyes and it's that feeling of of just wow that is our star like that isn't just it's isn't just the sun anymore that's a star and you see it looking like a star and you know as we study um you know as we look for uh exoplanets in other galaxies that might be able to support life you know we need to understand our relationship here on this planet with that star and so it's just it's so important and I think when you see it you're just like wow it actually is a star you know it's not just a bright point of light in the sky you can see the structure you can see uh just how exciting the the Sun is and actually how Dynamic it is yeah and you know it's not often in heliophysics that we can actually see the science that we're doing with our own eyes that is right so it's a r experience we even sharing it you know millions of us so many people partake yep that's right it's pretty windy too here it is it is windy and so I know earlier in the show we've mentioned that total solar eclipses really might only pass through a certain location say every 3 what 75 years can you explain how come we don't see eclipses like this every day every month month um because the moon's orbit is actually tilted and so most of the time when it passes in front we it doesn't block out the the light for us at this particular time it is right between on the plane between the Earth and the Sun it is it is actually at its closest point to the Earth and so in the plane of the sky the Moon is exactly the same size as the sun and that is that is very unique that is so special too I mean like what are the odds unds right see the the distance between the Earth and the moon is 400 times closer than the Earth and the Sun and the size is 400 times smaller as well so it just blocks it perfectly it does and right now the clouds are blocking it perfectly hey but we got a taste of it which is very nice and we are chasing this Eclipse across North America today so excited other it wants to come out again these clouds are thinning yeah the clouds hear the getting excited we're hopeful channeling all that good energy this crowd has been great all day oh yes all day it's crazy to believe too that it was so dark and it's only like midday oh yeah yes yeah wow and we're starting to get some of this starting to get the light back yeah St to get the light back yep so unfortunately we did not see the diamond ring at the end of the eclipse because of the clouds which is always a crowd fer but we did see it actually right before to ity there was suddenly this beautiful bright one light and then then it all went dark so um we did actually see quite a few great um great features on the sun and somebody actually was was saying they could see a sunspot um obviously through their glasses but they could see a sunspot so can you clarify what the sunspots are for viewers yes absolutely so when you when you if you were looking through your glasses you might have seen a couple of dark spots on the sun um they are actually very intense places there's very very intense magnetic field there they're very active and that is what can cause um space weather so every every now and again those active regions can sort of explode and then send billions of tons of solar material towards our planet wow well this was fantastic thank you so much Nikki this was incredible to experience this with you let's follow this Clips right up that path next up is Dallas we have joy and Michael standing by for their big moment in the sun yeah you can feel the temperature change the wind has completely quieted down yep so the energy here is amazing so with me right now is Dr Michael Kirk he's one of our Eclipse experts Michael we saw an annual Eclipse back in October but today is a total eclipse how you feeling today it is totally different I am ecstatic it the annular Eclipse was really cool this is you can feel it the energy here is electric if you look around you can see that the sh the darkness is coming um let's let have a quick look at what we're looking at right now we're almost there we're a couple of minutes away o yep just a crescent left so let's quickly talk about um some of the ways that the public are participating in the eclipse right now Michael can you talk about some of the citizen science projects yes there are people all around the country right now making measurements of audio uh recordings to see how the environment is changing and it is a great opportunity to do genuine science with just an audio recorder fantastic so we are almost like um let's see a few minutes away so minute 30 out I think actually um so let's have a look at the eclipse Michael what should we expect to see moments before totality okay so as we approach totality you're going to see that Crescent Sun slowly drift away and then you're going to see the Bailey's beads where there are these bright points of light that are last bits of sunlight cascading through the moon valleys and then right before to ality you'll see a diamond ring that last single point of light and then we'll be in totality we just have a thumbnail of sun left it is we are closing in on totality here wow we see a Slither of the sun left remember you can only take your safety glasses off when the moon has completely covered the Sun and in Dallas Texas we are seconds away oh my goodness I can feel my heart racing you can hear the crowd getting excited the birds are chirping and they seem like they're going into their nighttime routines wow so we are almost we are a few seconds away you can hear the crowds cheering here we go oh my goodness this is absolutely ecstatic the darkness is coming over Dallas here we are just a few seconds left 10 seconds woo oh I'm so excited okay we are 5 Seconds Away from totality one little bit it's totally dark here deep Twilight around here wow you can hear the crowds last bit of lights and we're in [Music] totality oh my God oh my God that is absolutely breathtaking oh my God Michael how are you feeling right now I I am just a struck I mean the there's a few high clouds but the beauty of the corona is clearly visible you can see that spiky structure just poking out um it is heart-stoppingly beautiful oh my goodness I have tears in my eyes I was not expecting this this is one of those experiences that you just never forget um I I feel so special to be right here right now experiencing it um and knowing that people literally Across the Nation are doing the same thing is uh it's truly amazing wow let's take a moment to take it all in this is absolutely breathtaking wow you can see that spiky structure of the Corona That's indicative of of our approach to solar maximum that asymmetrical uh nature of the corona happens when we're in solar maximum and that's going to be happening in about a few months from now so that means that this view of the corona will never happen again ever this is a completely unique view that even if you see a million solar eclipses you'll never quite see one like this so Michael you study the S what is it like to see the corona that you don't normally see I mean I I just there are no words um I spent my life studying this thing and to be able to see it and feel it is I it's just tremendous um you can see a a prominence um in the chromosphere the the middle atmosphere of the sun it's a Pink Spot and that that pink Loop is what I spent 5 years doing a dissertation on that that one little pink Loop and it it's just it makes it all feel like it's in perspective now I can't believe how clearly I can see those pink loops and the structures in the corona we can see a few planets out as well um they're they're brightly shining in the sky and actually there's a a plane racing across the shadow as we speak as well and I just want to take a moment to say huge thanks to our telescope operator Vanessa Thomas for providing these views news this is just so so stunning and people are applauding here as you can hear I mean I think everyone here is getting exactly what they came for which is just that sense of your place in the universe this is um this is our closest star and being able to see the star like this is truly special okay we have one minute left of totality oh the time just passes way too quickly um the next eclipse won't happen across the US for another 20 years so this really is a once- in A- lifetime opportunity for a lot of people absolutely our friends up in Alaska will see their next eclipse in 2033 so I I am like already thinking I need to go there I mean it's just it's I is it doesn't matter what I need to do I just have to go there W so we're 30 seconds out so right before totality ends our telescope operator Vanessa is going to put the solar filter back on but let's just cherish these last few moments of totality in Dallas Texas Michael what will happen right before totality ends so as totality is ending we'll go through the process in Reverse you'll see maybe a diamond ring uh a few Bailey speads as the sun creeps out of of totality um and then we're going to go back into a crescent sun again okay and there's a diamond ring again so time to put your glasses back on and glasses back oh sorry eclipse glasses back on and it's coming back again wow the Slither of the Sun and you can see Shadow bands on the ground right now it looks like it's almost raining or uh you can see those Shadow bands racing across the ground um as we come back in out of totality wow oh my goodness Michael that was amazing I was not expecting to feel so emotional I still have tears in my eyes it I mean it just grabs you I mean it is unlike anything else it's as amazing as seeing anything in the natural Universe I just I yeah like I said there are no words Michael thank you so much for being with us in this very very very special moment I feel honored to be here we truly are in a special place in the entire universe right here and I I'm just so happy to share it with you so now let's head back to James at NASA's Kennedy Space Center who's with the eclipse moon he's tracking the shadow moving across the US James how are things looking on your end yeah wow joy and Michael really cool view there it's insane to see just how dark it gets it's literally like night time there you could hear the birds tripping in that shot as well in the gardens absolutely beautiful we got a bunch coming up in just a few moments here our next eclipse path Target here for the NASA broadcast is in Russellville Arkansas they're going to have a long window too 4 minutes and 12 seconds they're expecting that totality kickoff at 1505 to be exact again you can continue to track this with our Eclipse tool here this is at go. nasa.gov Eclipse explor you can see just how quickly it's moving I'm playing this in real time you can see that shadow it's already moving very quickly to the Northeast and the fun isn't just for our friends on the path of totality and there are a lot of people on that path of totality about 31 million people reside somewhere on that path of totality but there's a lot of people obviously outside of that path as well too if I put on this overlay here for the percent coverage a lot of folks us included here in Florida are experiencing that partial eclipse as always if you are in a partial eclipse be sure to be wearing those eclipse glasses to protect your eyesight as you're viewing it but you can see these bands here are greater than 75% view so say you're watching up in I don't know Milwaukee here for example you've got a great view Almost 100% coverage you're not quite at totality 89.4% looks like you got good cloud cover there 20 20% cloud cover so hopefully you got a nice view up there as well too I've also put on this overlay here to show you just the amount of the duration of totality you see a lot of our places are within this middle band right here that are getting more than 4 minutes may seem like a lot of time but as you've seen just how quickly that can go by Michael sounds like he wrote his whole dissertation a fiveyear piece on those just few moments there this just passes so quickly and again if you miss this the next time you're going to have to wait for this in the US is not going to be until 2045 so again make sure your previewing exactly when to expect that peak time of coverage wherever you are in our path of totality or even outside of that path of totality so a lot coming up very soon again our friends in Russellville look like they have great coverage there as well too only 9% cloud cover so hopefully they're getting a really nice view but let's check in with Jasmine up there to see hopefully you're looking good for there how's it looking up in your way up in Russellville I'm just looking This way everything is looking absolutely fabulous here in Russellville we could not have asked for better weather so we are back here in the downtown Depot area and joining us now is heliophysics expert Dr Patrick Kane all the way from DC how are you feeling about your very first total solar eclipse I'm incredibly excited as I as I'm watching all of the changes there go the crowd I as I'm watching all of the changes I'm thinking back to the textbooks that I've read and this is so it was all academic before this is no longer academic yes so the feeling is very different than what we might read in a textbook Patrick just expl you know describe the atmosphere around us as it's changing all right right now as I'm looking around of course the temperature has been falling for the last 20 or 30 minutes but the light is dimming and it's dimming faster and faster and faster it seems like it's it's it's accelerating um the crowd is definitely getting excited uh I'm I'm looking around the ground to see if I see the shadow snakes I don't but this is just really exciting it really is honestly like you said we're feeling that cooler weather the crowd behind us just erupted we're also feeling them fall a little bit quieter too so we're going to take a beat of silence as we get into total I think we're we're less than about 15 seconds away so we're going to also look over our shoulder with our solar C glasses still on until we are in totality here we go just a sliver of the sun left getting [Applause] close crowd's getting excited the crowd but yeah all around is completely electric going going wow oh my goodness here we are here we [Music] go and and The Crowd Goes Wild oh my good wow we got some Bailey's beads oh absolutely stunning that is spectacular we see over to the over to the side there and Patrick it came and went so quickly but we did see a diamond ring at the very beginning there can you describe to us what is that sure that that diamond ring effect is due to the the moon not being perfectly smooth it's got mountains it's got valleys so just like here on Earth when we see a sunrise or a sunset through a valley we just watched a sunset uh uh uh through a valley on the moon absolutely study oh my so you said we could see one planet I see it right there in the sky can we see any others as we're looking up yeah we've got Venus on the on the over to one side we've got Jupiter up here uh to the left of the Sun and there's the corona this absolutely beautiful that is Spectacular Now you also said that this is happening during what we're calling a solar maximum now Patrick does that mean that the sun is stronger right now than normal not so much stronger just more Dynamic it's changing a lot uh during solar maximum the the magnetic field on the on the sun is is more chaotic it's more disorganized so you see more random random directions for the for the the jets of gas leaving the sun right conratulations that is spectacular we could see a a a stream all right we are reaching that halfway mark already 2 minutes into totality there's even just a hint of a diamond ring down at the bottom I can see it we're looking at a diamond ring from Arkansas the Diamond State now Patrick of course as we've been talking about it this is part of what we are calling The heliophysics Big Year you are a heliophysics extraordinaire all the way from Washington DC so what does that mean okay so the heliophysics big year started out in October of last year with the annular eclipse and and uh of course we we take a pause here in the middle to to to watch this particular Eclipse but then it will end on December 24th of 2024 when Parker solar probe passes as close as it's ever going to get to the surface of the Sun within nine solar radi oh wow and I'm sure that means a lot to you because you worked on Parker solar probe about 20 years ago during its Inception so tell us a little bit more about that I worked on the on a concept study for Parker solar probe back when I was a graduate student uh in around 2002 or so and and back then the idea was for it to actually dive into the sun rather than orbit the Sun it was going to be a su dive wow that is fabulous this must be a very full circle moment for you right P this is brilliant this is absolutely brilliant and that that diamond ring has been persist wait a minute that's pink what we are actually seeing is down into the chromosphere now of of the sun we're seeing a little bit deeper than than the corona I believe I believe it's a because of the pinkish color we're looking down into the chromosphere which is the next layer of the atmosphere of the Sun down oh wow wow oh my God this is like nothing we have ever seen here in Arkansas and like nothing we will see uh for the next two decades right Patrick that's right it's going to be 21 years before we see it again here 2045 all right so as we are starting to exit totality of course we're going to be very careful uh with our eyes if needed uh we're going to put those solar glasses back on of course and the crowd just erupting falling quiet again as they watch This Magnificent moment actually seeing bats splitting through the air oh wow well we will be very careful then yeah and why is that Patrick again those nocturnal animals are are coming out right as far as they're concerned it's night time it's time to feed so they're coming out to feed on all the mosquitoes we've been swatting okay got it we'll be very careful for for all those nocturnal Critters around us right now all right we are getting closer get ready to put those all right we're putting those glasses back on the is oh wow a second diamond ring seen from right here in Aransas the Diamond State absolutely stunning outstanding beautiful Patrick We're going to turn around now and just uh one question I I really do have to ask you before we let you go is are you team sun moon or Earth I am team Sun team Sun all day long fantastic I figured from a helio physics expert like you we want to thank the city of Russellville for hosting us Arkansas Tech University and our telescope feed operator Joe Mattis thank you so much now let's get back to James try over at Kennedy Space Center James back to you yeah thanks so much Jasmine one of you guys had there so you were just right here in Russellville you can see that shadow has now officially moved off and is on our way to our next Target which is up here in Carbondale carbonell is one of those very lucky cities because back in 2017 they were right at that intersection Co of the 2017 Eclipse Across America they're there again this year but the difference is they're going to have a much longer slot in 2017 they only had 2 minutes 40 seconds and that's not as much as they're going to have this year which is 4 minutes and 10 seconds in the totally eclipsed Sun a really great viewing window for them to really take in this big moment very exciting to be able to track that for them as well and also some details about this tool here as well if I click onto their Eclipse time here 15915 local time you notice this little icon comes up here this is actually simulated based off real data from the Parker solar probe of what we expect the corona around the Sun to look like and as you just heard the sun's a lot more active this time around it's kind of like a like a wild hairball if you will lots of different streamers and things streaking off the Sun so you've been seeing already in our covered some really cool activity around that Sun's Corona if you're really lucky and the timing is just right you might get a coronal mass ejection streaking off the sun hoping that someone on our path gets to see that today if you do be sure to send us the photos we love to see that as well one other cool feature about this tool too is you can see the actual path that the moon is going to be taking across the Sun and all of this plays in real time if you time it up well and so you can actually see if I go to our live moment here this is actually playing as what we're expecting in real time the movement of the Moon across the Sun Carbell just had a little crescent there and you can see that shadow is really closing in on them very quickly let me turn off the 2017 path and zoom in a bit here you see they are nearing totality in just a few moments and their weather is looking great we've been checking in with them all morning and afternoon 27% cloud cover that time of totality is coming up at 15915 really excited and then it's going to be kind of bang bang for a while afterwards for a lot of our sites we're going to be moving on to Indianapolis all the way up to our final Target in Holton Maine there is a lot coming up and even again still if you're outside of that path of totality have your glasses at the ready to be able to observe that partial eclipse this is going to be going on for a while but for now let's take a look at Carbondale and see up close what it's looking like how is it looking over there in Carbondale couple more minutes well the crowds are going nuts here in Carbondale at SIU at Saluki Stadium Bob bear is with us and Bob it's amazing I I'm afraid to look up I know it's not quite ready yet but tell us what do you expect here for the eclipse today good weather it's good weather right now we have high clouds so totality is going to look just a little bit fuzzy to us a little bit hazy but we are moments away from seeing the diamond ring here this is awesome oh oh oh oh I thought we saw it I think we had about one minute okay one minute away now we're today we're having longer totality so I are you feeling the temperature change cuz I'm already feeling the temperature drop I felt the temperature dropping about 20 minutes ago even and the wind picking up a little bit and I think yeah we got 4 minutes and 9 seconds here so it'll continue to get cooler and we got a lot to look at in the sky I'm very excited I'm I'm looking up when I canow oh it's so close it's getting very dark right now very dark you can see the shadow going across this is the start of it it's dark over here it's light over there this is amazing crowds are going nuts we're about to get word that we're at oh you can see the planets the crowds are going nuts this is crazy Bob this amazing here we go don't don't look at the sun yet it's not quite totality but you can still see some of the planets right away very close you got about 15 and the crowd is very happy oh total darkness here this is incredible oh wow there it is diamond ring diamond ring wow that's amazing amazing that is a look at that oh and yeah Bob that's all that's amazing wow Jupiter complete totality I see Jupiter oh my gosh that is gorgeous wow this is amazing Bob wow that is huge so we have some prominences I think we want to go look through the scope go through look through the scope I'm going to walk over with you as you talk through the scope we are right here at one of the telescopes that we have positioned here Bob is looking through with a naked eye and going to give us some feedback on [Applause] that maybe maybe some prominence as we're seeing what's amazing is how dark it is compared to 2017 much darker a lot more astronomical features we have seen Jupiter and I believe what planet what what planet is that Bob that's Venus to right to the right that's Venus I can't quite see Mercury I think it's obscured by those light clouds but 360° Sunset around us this is amazing it's going to get darker it's going to get darker going to get darker wow is already pretty dark we are not in the middle of the Shadow quite yet wow did you see it yeah timer okay 246 to go okay all right so we're getting some live data from the team here I tell you it's really impressive Bob because oh my gosh it's getting better see that prominence at the bottom at the bottom there's the prominence I see it wow I keep looking I can't believe the clarity that it's so much darker than 2017 it's gorgeous and what's awesome we have six telescopes running back here capturing data streaming this and well and that's a big important part here this is not just capturing image to share with people uh watching the show you are actually capturing scientific data that can be used by scientists everywhere we are and we we've seen totality across North America so far in M Atlant now we're experiencing it ourselves and we'll experience it after this on the Jumbotron from the other Dev sites it's like the most amazing Eclipse train you could ever ride on wow this is a bit better than 2017 I without a doubt without a doubt no no cloud and you know what's interesting is the the the crowd is quieting down there it seemed to be experiencing the moment taking it all in a really special moment here look at so we must be getting close to the center where we at 2 minutes so 1 minute 30 seconds the corona is looking brighter because our eyes are adjusting now I mean that is amazing Bob and and how much Corona you see I mean like just last time I didn't see that much visually oh there goes a bat bat flying over the crowd oh yeah we talked about the animals now now we see them becoming active we found a a lunamoth earlier as well but that Corona is about four times the diameter of the Sun that is massive that is amazing Bob and I'm really curious about that prom prominence at the bottom have you looked yet Blair you have to look so take a look so Blair's looking through the scope now oh my goodness totality I know that one right right at the bottom is significant Bob it looks like a a coronal Mouse ejection but uh don't don't fact check me on that because I'm just a novice but there's actually two on the B Bob you got to look at that there's two look at the 30 seconds 30 seconds left the totality jump in there take a look it's great cuz uh we have telescopes out here for people to look at and actually see total througha and uh we're getting close I don't know what you guys are seeing on the on television 10 seconds we got to cut it off okay all right here we go 10 seconds before we need to put our glasses back on okay oh sorry you're good you're good uh we put the cap back on the telescope to make sure nobody looks what an amazing event Bob diamond ring there's the diamond ring there's the second one oh snap oh that's amazing uh it's like it was scheduled yeah somebody had the timing right here oh my God man it's amazing we will see Shadow bands again here oh you hear the crowd everybody's excited we go what an amazing moment here at Saluki Stadium oh my gosh with Bob bear and 10,000 fans all loving every moment of it Bob some final words well I think we just had an eagle fly over okay so but incredible well that's one of those things you said we saw animal reaction we heard it we felt it it was wonderful so we got to keep an eye out for shadow band we're going to see him again in about 1 minute on on the ground here okay so we'll keep looking for those Shadow bands on the ground but I got to tell you guys uh back at the studio uh I know you guys have seen eclipses already there's still some to come but what an amazing moment back to you guys uh good weather all the way to the end thank you Blair we are in Indianapolis we are almost at totality with me I have Nikki rail the associate director for flight programs for the heliophysics division and Denise Hill n Outreach and Communications lead for the NASA Helio physics division you guys let's get our glasses on and you can hear the crowds start to Roar as everyone gets on their glasses we are so so close ladies what are we seeing right now I mean just the Ambiance of this moment it is beautiful we're just seeing a really small Crescent but the light all around us it's so Dusky and I'm just odd it is I'm feeling a temperature drop already which I can't believe it's feeling cooler the crowd is starting to go wild here we go here we goting all right we are so CL and the best soundtrack you could possibly ask for in the background here absolutely oh we're so close okay just a little bit left and you can really hear the crowd taking go yeah here we go here we go we're so close here we go almost we are so so close and we oh my gosh there's that great Diamond R all right oh wow look at that I can see the yes oh my gosh I can actually visualize the corona I've always wanted to see that wow look at that fantastic oh my God it's gorgeous my gosh Absolut incredible and dark wow look at how dark it is oh my gosh and you can really see those streamers coming out right now I'm seeing some bright bright lights around where we're seeing cratering and I can see those streamers coming out of the Corona and are those Bailey beads are we seeing any baile we seeing we were seeing some Bailey's beads they're transitioning out a little bit but yes those bright light where the sunlight is shining through craters on the moon mountains and craters and look at those streamers of the corona it is putting on a show and it is dark holy moly it is dark I got to take a p the crowd right now oh look at the crowd the crowd is absolutely going wild everyone's got their phone out it is now safe to look at the eclipse without your glasses what an amazing site folks we've got four minutes here a little under four minutes to enjoy this and if you were uh in a an open field right now you'd be able to see a sunset a 300 60° Sunset all around us you can see a little bit of that you can see the light around us a little bit I have to say this is my first Total Eclipse Denise this is my first Total inred totality this is a bucket list moment for me this is incredible really a once in a lifetime unless you're an eclipse Chaser which I'm considering it I might become one after this I quit my job wow fantastic oh my gosh we spend so long trying to see that Corona and to see it my eyes yes your own eyes wow just gorgeous I'm just in awe of like being this person on this rock moving around the Sun I can't even believe it right now yeah and to share this moment together with 50 60,000 people all looking up at the moon and the sun all at once it's just an incredible experience for all the folks here in Indie and for all the folks watching I I hope you can take you know the the amazing energy um and excitement from this crowd what a special moment for the United States oh my gosh you hear that look listen to everybody there we the crowds wow wow okay so I I think we're seeing yep those beautiful prominences the corona is just putting on such a show right now it's got my full attention that's all I can watch wow holy cow we've got some some some very um appropriate music on going on in the background here this is the best version of getting mooned that I have ever experienced in my life don't strain your eyes oh wow I am just in awe there just aren't the right words to describe this I'm just noticing it feels so strange to me right now like I feel the hair on my arm standing up I feel like it's night time and I'm what am I doing and it was daytime and actually folks we are starting to get some nighttime insects coming out uh yes yes we're starting to see bugs we are seeing bugs and it's hard to hear them over the crowd but I can definitely see them flying yes I think the the animals are a little bit confused Nikki while I have you you know we've got a lot of programs at Nasa looking at the sun no eclipse glasses required as the associate director of flight programs tell me what can we expect NASA to be sending to the sun in the few in next few years we are so lucky in the midst of this incredible time of solar Max we're getting ready to I'm a diamond ring right now take a look take a look put your glasses back on be safe that is the diamond ring folks wow spectacular oh my gosh can even hear fireworks in the distance oh my gosh and the light is already starting to change it really is you can wow the CR hear the crowd just every second of it oh what a moment I love those fireworks that Indianapolis is really pulling out all of the stops and we love them for it I also want to take a moment here to thank our two telescope operators John and Dana who have been providing these telescope fuse for us there from Ball State University thank you very much to John and Dana all right it's like somebody flipped the lights back on switch flip this is so and I can feel it warming up already Yes wow this is so amazing incredible well this is an incredible incredible moment and an incred incredible moment for The Helio Big Year ladies thank you so much for joining us this has been fantastic thank you for having me and sharing I'm so excited to be here and to see this incredible site absolutely Megan and Sarah back to you oh that was so fun to experience and I can't wait for us to do it now take a look at this drone shot where you can see it definitely got noticeably darker we feel it here it's colder the crowd is cheering now they're ready for totality here in Cleveland Ohio we are about three we are less than 3 minutes away 2 minutes and 18 seconds away from totality here in Cleveland Ohio the crowd over here to our right going crazy feeling the excitement I'm ready for this how are you yeah it's super cool it's all of a sudden it's really getting dark and you're starting to feel it cool it's like they just dimmed it out now it's like night this happened within the last like couple of seconds but let's take a look around because obviously we're not the only ones enjoying uh the total solar eclipse today we have some watch uh uh we have some Eclipse viewing events that we've seen around the country so why don't we take a look at some of those wow oh my gosh so this is Time Square that's the NASDAQ Tower and they are taking our feed live right now and we're seeing Cleveland Ohio Sun they're only going to get a partial eclips today but they get to watch our Eclipse with us so yeah I'm really glad that they can do that wow look that sliver of a crescent just left it's perfect on that building the shape of that building right and we can see some people in the foreground taking a look stopping to watch it's hard to stop in Time Square right but they're stopping to take a look at this with us beautiful oh awesome so this is just next to us this is Progressive Field here in Cleveland Ohio so they the Guardians have their opening day today and the first pitch is like five after 5:00 but as you can see they've opened up the stadium and people are in there to enjoy big crowd in there to watch that that's great yeah you can oh my gosh it just got darker here oh my gosh that's so interesting and then Mentor Civic Amphitheater again the the the field starting to fill and everybody looking up at the sky for their opportunity to see today's solar eclipse this is us back here in Cleveland everybody looking up at the sky we have 30 seconds 30 seconds until totality here in Cleveland Ohio oh my God I have Goosebumps everywhere everybody's starting to cheer I might cry I kind of feel like crying this is so cool to it's getting so dark so fast W it's like night just descended on us and look at the Cresent slowly disappearing crowd's cheering here cell phones up camera's up five four 3 2 1 and totality total [Applause] [Music] [Applause] everyone oh my god oh wow oh my God I was so nervous wow I know it wasn't sure cuz we had some high clouds but oh my goodness you can totally you can see that that Corona extending out oh wow yeah the clouds were really bothering me really scaring me You' get very cloudy here in the last hour and a half but we have a great view here in Cleveland Ohio wow look at the corona can hear the crowd wow everybody's got their phones out oh my gosh wow you know I saw pictures of what the shape of the corona might look like from from our NASA scientists and and it looks exactly like they predicted oh my gosh oh and you can see Jupiter and Venus oh yeah look at that so Jupiter's to the upper left of of the eclipse that we're watching in and just to the right of it is Venus Venus yes oh and I see some those pink protuberances we've been talking about all day wow beautiful and again all around us you see light but just at the top where we are 360 Sunset exactly exactly yes Indianapolis had described that as well we have totality here for 3 minutes and 50 seconds that is such a luxurious amount of time I saw the 2017 I think we only had about 2 minutes so and why is that why why does the length of totality differ oh yeah well cuz sometimes the Moon is a little closer a little further away it's orbits elliptical and so when it's further away it looks smaller in the sky but when it's closer it looks bigger and so we get a little bit more extra time look at the prominence you can see it on the bottom on the bottom there W so pretty like bright pink that is insane that you can see it from there from here yes just like the power of our son I'm truly in awe right now and cold I'm in awe and cold it did drop it notia it's like yes yes looking around to the crowd a lot of people videotaping it trying to take photos it's the lovely backdrop of the Cleveland Skyline yeah that's beautiful we have the stadium right next to us the the oh my gosh and again thanking the Great Lake Science Center and NASA for hosting this event here in downtown Cleveland Ohio yeah it's great to like sort of join Humanity to all come together at once and experience this together with such a great oh look at the screen right now here's a shot of the skyline wow the sky looks on fire beautiful a lot of excitement still here in the crowd Sarah's just taking it all in Sarah you're supposed to be commentating you're supposed to be so beautiful so you can tell that we have some cloud cover right it's kind of hazy here but still it is yeah some high clouds I was worried about it but like we can still really see have a pretty good view here wow and again this is so rare for people here in Cleveland to see a total solar eclipse the last time was 1806 the next time guys 2444 that is incredible I hope everybody took the time to come outside and witness this today oh my gosh you can still see that prominence again talk to us about what a prominence is yeah so that that pink color comes from the helium uh in the sort of outer atmosphere of the of the sun there that was beautiful and it gives off that pink glow wow totality ending here there's the diamond ring time to get your glasses back out time to put your glasses back on everyone that's your queue glasses back on that diamond [Music] ringful what an amazing experience my first total solar eclipse let's see what they think about this in Niagara with Daryl n over the entire area you can hear the crowd erupting at various moments when the eclipse has been seen but we are under pretty cloudy conditions and David sheni is with us he's a program executive with the heliophysics division uh David uh this is a challenging situation to be in in order to try to see this Eclipse we've seen glimpses we have seen glimpses so we're basically spending our time staring at the sky hoping for a little bit of a glimpse of what uh would be a totality so right now you the sky is just completely gone dark um you see all the lights basically everybody's cameras and everything else are all making it lighter um so and it's gotten significantly colder as well just over the last uh several minutes and uh it's like it's fascinating to see it Go night like this we've been listening to everybody across the country enjoying totality and seeing it clear that's not the experience we're having here in fact it's so cloudy that our telescot operator Jessica Bina who's working very hard to try to get a lock on it has not been able to get that telescope feed dialed in because she has to have a view of the Sun in order to see it so we don't have a feed for you from Niagara what we have is just every once in a while you'll hear part of the crowd only part of the crowd will cheer because I guess they kind of have an angle through the clouds to see just a little bit yeah and so and the clouds are really only cleared out enough occasionally to even need eclipse glasses so for the most part you have a a thick enough layer of clouds that you can see the eclipse without them and it's just fine so a lot of us have been able to just take regular pictures with our cameras let's take a look and just kind of enjoy the moment nice can we turn the the spotlights down so there oh look you got you got a little bit of a clipse right there um with the with people watching so we're just we're just catching little glimpses of things as we see as we look up into the sky so this might not be as exciting as some but this is this is what we get we're we're just hoping to have a little bit of a glimpse um well we've got 3 minutes and 29 seconds for it to happen we're all already a minute or so in right we heard there's going to be skydivers that are going to jump out probably hard to see them yeah I don't know that we'll get to see the skydivers can't you know you can't see any of the of Niagara Falls really it's basically all like as if as if it was night for us here you can start to see some of the light come in from the other side so we're taking now a view of Tupper Lake New York that's uh oh look there he goes I got totality right there we're getting totality right now that we can see we just got a really nice clear spot right there so wow e e e e e e e e e e e of those few fleeting moments to observe this moment if you're not in that path of totality or if you missed it hopefully you didn't miss it because we've been tracking it all day here showing you if you did miss it I'm going to zoom way out here and show you what to keep an eye out for in the future so this is going to be the eclipse path in 2045 we're going to come through parts of Montana into North Dakota in 2044 2045 is the next big Clips Across America that's actually going to come oops I didn't draw here there you go that's going to come all the way from California into parts of Florida there that is in 2045 so a long time to wait so really take full advantage of those fleeting moments to be able to observe this moment I'm going to click on Burlington here who are also in that path of totality experiencing that right now too so just an incredible moment to really see all of this and Tupper Lake again they're still I think experiencing that last fleeting moment there that is just moving off you can see that is officially now moved off Tupper Lake really a fantastic shot they have that now that diamond ring effect that really beautiful shot there this is again such a quick moment and this doesn't happen very often it's really a once- in lifetime moment so take full advantage of this you can see just how close we are now to Holton main who are our last stop of the day on our NASA coverage here this is then going to continue on into parts of Canada and Beyond Holton M they had some snow past couple days it seems to have cleared up quite a bit more for them really hoping that that holds out for them they are expecting a duration of 3 minutes and 20 seconds to be able to observe that totality at 33205 local time really excited to see that view you see that shadow creeping so quickly up to them up there so let's check in with Angelique who is up there in Holton Maine hopefully it's beautiful weather for you how's it looking up there Angelique James it James it is looking awesome up here we are just a few minutes away from totality hear people announcing it in the back and people are getting excited as am I and here to share in all of that excitement with us is actually Dr Eric Smith the program scientist for the James web Space Telescope Eric it's so great to have you here oh it's great to be here Angelique this is really exciting Eric is this your first eclipse this is the first totality I'm going to see so I am super psyched and I am delighted to be here in Maine to experience it yes and so we've actually been kind of watching as it slowly gets close closer and closer right and what are we we're starting to feel it getting kind of cooler we're seeing the Shadows change yeah we're seeing the the light is definitely different from when the sun sets and the Shadows get a little diffused here they're still sharp but the light is diminishing your brain tells it something different is happening something is definitely up so speaking of up that's where the James web Space Telescope is and what's interesting about the telescope is that it actually can't look directly at the sun just like we can't can you tell me a little bit more about why why that is sure uh we designed web to look for very faint things in the distant universe so it's very sensitive for very faint things of course the sun is very bright and so we had to make sure that it could never look at the sun we use solar power to power the spacecraft but the telescope can't look at the Sun that makes a lot of sense now as it's starting to get a little bit closer to all of the cool phenomenon the Bailey's beads the diamond let's go ahead and put on our glasses all right so that we can we can look up and continue chatting wow a little tiny just just a little bit left that is incredible wow so Eric I have a couple more questions for you another thing that I was wondering about is how we can use actually eclipses to study exoplanets which are planets outside of our solar system um using I think the transit method is that what that's called yeah right now during an eclipse the moon sorry you can hear everybody getting excited we're getting very close to totality here the the Moon is transiting in front of the sun just the way planets uh that orbit around other stars transit in front of the star so web can look at those exoplanets and use the transit just like we're staring up at the moon transiting the sun gotcha and so a Transit is like you said throughout the broadcast we've actually been able to see the eclipse through different telescope feeds can you tell me a little bit about what the difference is between actually we're going to go ahead here we go we're getting really close oh my gosh it looks like just a few more seconds until we are in complete totality oh my gosh 5 4 3 here we go 1 you can hear everybody cheering this is incredible so let's go ahead take off our glasses we are in totality now oh you can see the coronal spikes amazing that is beautiful you can see a planet in the sky that you couldn't see before oh wow and I think it's that one of the um oh gosh the Drone there's a drone up there in the sky too oh my goodness wow it's incredible the Rays that you can kind of just see coming off of the corona yes yeah stunningly beautiful yeah that's that's got to be one of the most amazing things I've ever seen and you can see the great aan in the sky color down to the Horizon oh my goodness I am seeing a bit of that 360° um Sunset yes yeah that is really cool it's it's a it's amazing even though we're in you know the total Shadow there's still the corona is still pretty bright incredibly bright you could read by the Light of the corona I think I have some trouble reading but I probably could I could technically read something so Eric oh and actually we have the International Space Station flying over right now so they are actually seeing not one but two views of the eclipse they're able to see not just the moon passing in front of the Sun but they're also able to see the shadow of the Moon passing over Earth which is absolutely incredible I mean I can hardly imagine a view being better than the one we have right now but if there is one it's on the space station it's from the space station for sure wow so yes they're able to take some pictures of that um and that is just incredible just incredible uh one of the things they told people to do if you're far away was to hear how nature changed and it was interesting here we're of course surrounded by a lot of people just to hear their reaction when we went into totality it's true the humans in nature have not gotten quieter but louder I would say but I mean you can definitely hear the the loudness has a different kind of character to it there's almost like a I mean I don't know if Wonder has a sound but I think this might be it yeah hushed a yes hushed awe that's wonderful and I can see just one um little red I guess like prot coming down there red spots almost I noticed those too that's cool now they're two yeah wow that is just so cool yeah I like the the 360 Sunset is it's a little hard to see behind us but it's uh oh we've got at least one one or two drones yes some the our robot overlords of course and so Eric I know that I mean clearly with the drones people are starting to get involved in the eclipse and I know that there are lots of ways that people can actually get involved one of those ways it's with citizen science you mind talking about some of those opportunities how people can can actually sure um we had uh citizen science programs where people could use their cell phones to take pictures during the eclipse and oh we're getting ready to come out of totality and here we go oh there it is oh it's peeking out everybody is cheering we have just made it to the end of totality we're starting to see we're starting to see the sun just peeking back out again now just look at the ground how much brighter it's gotten all so much brighter that is so wild that was probably one of the most amazing but also fastest three minutes of my life I wish I could do it all again yeah all right well that was incredible incredible to get to experience that here in Holton thanks so much to the city of Holton and also thank you so much Dr Smith for coming out and hanging out with us and experience this wonderful event oh it was my pleasure and congratulations of the city of Holden here for doing such an amazing job covering the eclipse they went it was amazing well orchestrated above and beyond and I want to say of course a special thank you to photographer Dave Bowman who has been giving us these incredible images from the telescope feed and we're going to enjoy as the rest of the eclipse kind of ends here going back in the direction that it came and with that we're going to send it back over to you Megan all righty thanks Angelique so Gina I mean what do you think like we literally have just watched the eclipse travel what about 2600 miles Mexico to Maine in like what about 88 minutes that's right fast that 1900 M hour that the Shadow's traveling I mean did you have a favorite location uh for me I think it between Russellville and Dallas just getting to hear some of my colleagues and their excitement too was amazing oh my goodness yeah no so I don't know I have to be a little bit biased we did have some cloud cover here but to see it with your real eyes was just and we had that moment which was we did yes ah it was amazing and so it's really cool too just to think about how millions of us now have this shared moment of what could be a once- in a-lifetime event it's true and so folks we have time for some more questions from our viewers um and again we have another great question from McKenzie who's in the third grade okay let's roll it now hi my name is McKenzie I am in third grade my question is what is the difference between a lunar eclipse and a solar eclipse thank you for that question McKenzie okay let's talk about the difference between the eclipses now the Eclipse that we had today is when the moon crosses between the Earth and the Sun but we also get lunar eclipses and a lunar eclipse occurs when the earth crosses between the Moon and the Sun so it's really about where the shadow is going today we have the Moon Shadow projecting on the earth during a lunar eclipse we have the Earth Shadow projecting onto the moon so that's the main difference there that we just saw too those incredible views from space you know to see that second perspective View and so I've got another question for you right now it's going to be Eli on red who says who wants to know there are quite a few solar eclipses in the world every few years so why is this one SC uh scientifically interesting okay so yeah we do get solar eclipses and lunar eclipses maybe two to three times a year however the total eclipse that happens today total eclipses are about every 1 and A2 years and that is a rare opportunity for us to look at the corona study the Corona in a way that we can't do during the other types of solar eclipses that we have so during a solar maximum exactly during the solar maximum so for this one particular you know we were talking about the solar activity that we were seeing on the limbs during the totality um yeah there's just a bunch going on today for this eclipse and so too I right now we've got another incredible view these are live views from space which is just mindblowing in general and now we're also to see the Moon Shadow across the Earth it is just amazing so you know Gina to thinking about how many people across North America today witnessed this one moment it's a good reminder that Humanity has been experiencing these eclipses for centuries and you know there are different meanings for these events in different cultures let's check in with joy in Dallas to learn more about indigenous astronomy Joy hi and welcome back to Dallas Texas I'm with Dr David beay he's an indigenous astronomer and also a member of the N Maro Nation David thank you so much for joining us so when people think about science they might be thinking of Western science so David how does that relate to indigenous science and what did the total eclipse mean to the Navajo people I think the knowledge on Eclipse goes way back from time immemorial I'm told by my elders and uh they knew that uh when you look at the sun directly or you can vanish your eyes permanently and so they knew that about the danger of looking at the eclipse with the knacked eye so people were encouraged to go inside to ensure that people weren't looking up especially the kids so it goes way back and as far as uh eclipses it's a time of uh renewal the Sun alignment with the moon and also the Earth alignment the whole Cosmic cycle goes through a regeneration process it revitalizes the process and so it's a gift that that goes on uh for many years uh over and over it's a cycle and uh as far as Sciences goes uh uh um there's different definition of size um thank you David maybe we can thank you it's been an it's been an honor chatting with you so thank you to everyone here for joining us thank you that artim for hosting us uh for this very very magical moment this has been uh an experience of a lifetime and one that I definitely won't forget so let's head back to tahara and Gina in kville Texas thanks Joy we're joined Now by Jamie favers the director of NASA's space weather program to tell us more about some cool science that launched today during the eclipse welcome Jamie thanks to here he Jamie hey how are you good and so can you tell us why did NASA launch rockets before during and after the eclipse today sure so it's really to capitalized on this really unique situation you know things like this happen every day you know going from daylight to you know Sunset into you know Darkness it happens so quickly that we can make these measurements one right after the next to really understand very precisely what's going on in the atmosphere with sounding Rockets we can do that so quick back toback the way we can't do with some of the really large Rockets okay so Jamie how high did the Rockets actually go and what's special about this area of the atmosphere sure and we just launched the second of those three just a few moments ago and that's going pretty well so far these these particular Rockets are getting about 250 Mi above the surface pretty close to right about where the International Space Station flies and before you ask everything's safe everything's we take care of the got a playback of that right now wow can you walk us through this sure so from wop's Island out in Virginia on the Virginia Space Coast so these Rockets have multiple stages to them so you're seeing one stage burn for a few seconds then that drops off and then the next stage will light to eventually take it all the way up to about that 250 mile Mark above the surface to make those measurements in the upper atmosph wow that looks incredible oh my gosh okay and so what is that area of the atmosphere and why do we care about it yes it's the upper part of our atmosphere is called the ionosphere that's really from a perspective of heliophysics where we really see a lot of that interaction with the Sun and the Earth we care about it because that interaction can change the way our GPS signals work our communication signals work and even up a little bit higher we start to see the influence of the sun actually causing the atmosphere to change its density in a way that can impact the way satellites orbit the earth as well sure okay great and so Jimmy today we've been doing this fun poll you know to see who is Team Sun Moon and Earth what team are you repping today uh well other than team science don't choose the wrong I well my bosses would make sure I go for uh Team sun today for sure oh man okay well thank you so much again thanks Jamie and folks it is time now to say goodbye to our friend James try who has made sure we've known where and when to look up all day James thank you yeah thanks so much to hear it's been fantastic tracking this Eclipse across North America all afternoon with you if you're still in the path of totality you might be in a boat somewhere off the Canadian Coast taking this all in I hope you enjoy that view that fleeting moment we've made a a big journey across I can zoom out here on our Clips board you can see we started all the way down here in mazatan Mexico we've tracked all the way across and are now like I said breezing past Canada now into the Atlantic Ocean it's been fantastic to track this and if I turn on the shadow of our pen Umbra you can see this highlighted area anywhere in there is still experiencing a par Eclipse so if you're in that partial eclipse area be sure to have your eclipse glasses at the ready so you can take in that fleeting moment we just went outside a few moments to go here at Kennedy Space Center to take it in it's fantastic beautiful view is really cool to see you got like a little chunk out of the uh the sun there for us here only about 50% coverage but still fantastic to see so really it's been phenomenal we've lucked out in general with the weather all of today too that was the biggest concern I had going into the day here it's been beautiful views up and down here and so really fantastic to see this really been a lot of fun tracking this with our Clips Explorer a big thanks again to our scientific visualization studio for putting this tool together but for now back to you Tahira and here with us now is NASA Chief scientist Dr Kate Calvin Kate welcome hi Kate hi nice to be here so happy to have you back here again I know we had the pleasure of sharing the stage together for the annular Eclipse now with Today's total solar eclipse can you tell our viewers what would you say is the number one takeaway from today's events I would say the number one takeaway is that our universe is beautiful and understandable we all got to experience this together today we could predict when it would happen and we did a lot of science today that's great so speaking of the science that was conducted you know how does that fold into kind of the greater science that we're doing with NASA in the future yes so we did a lot of science today and a lot of it really complement science that we do all of the time so one of the things we were really looking at today was the corona the moon blocked out the Sun so that we could see that part of the sun's atmosphere spere but we also have a mission called Parker solar probe that's um orbiting closer and closer to the Sun so that we can study the corona with that we were also looking a lot at how the eclipse affect affected Earth so we had a citizen science project that looked at how the eclipse changed temperatures and clouds we have a mission that launched two months ago that's studying clouds all the time a mission called Pace that'll tell us more about um oceans and atmosphere on on here on Earth and one of the other things we do is we develop instruments called a coronagraph so the moon blocked out the Sun today so that we could see that Corona but we can make an instrument that does that and so we have an upcoming mission called Nancy Grace Roman that's going to block out the light of other stars so we can see what's flying in around them amazing so much going on for the Sun at Nasa honestly and you know I understand that the heliophysics division has a big sun celebration going on right now The Helio physics big year Kate could you tell us how we could get involved in this and really just celebrate our star yeah this total solar eclipse was just one event in a series of this heliophysics figure working towards Parker solar pu's closest approach to the Sun and we have a lot of activities where you can engage in our science and learn more about the Sun and if you want to know more you can find us on social media at Nasa Sun fantastic thank you so much Kate for being here with us it was really special to share this moment with you thanks Kate nice to be here and Gina this has been an honor I mean my goodness like to have the annular Eclipse with you then to share this total solar eclipse with you I know thank you so much and do you have any final thoughts you know this was amazing annular was great but to hear the energy here is the total was just a whole another level both of you you know once again thank you for having me absolutely and you know a big thank you to the city of kville Texas the parks and rec team and all the people that made today's incredible event possible I also want to thank our telescope Operator Operator Katherine tro for those great views of totality here in kville folks that is a wrap from K Texas back to you in Cleveland thank you to her and Gina and also Kate Calvin and now check out who we have here at the hostess the pasta himself Josh dos who just signed on as quarterback for the 49ers how do you feel about that I feel good I feel good it's exciting times um obviously I spent a couple years here in Cleveland got a chance to have some fun over at Nasa Glen during my time here so it's cool to be back and Tak in the eclipse Fest here in Cleveland but looking forward to the future in San Francisco I know NASA's doing some great work out there on the west coose so we'll be able to stay tuned to that as well yeah so for people who don't know the pasta nickname comes from some incredible plays you had last year and also you have a background uh here with us at Nasa with some exter uh externships but also uh you're an aerospace engineer so how did it feel being back here specifically in Cleveland to watch the total solar eclipse it felt really good you know uh when this event was put on my radar about a year ago in in last offseason hey like the eclipse is coming straight through Cleveland we love to have you here it's going to be a once- in a-lifetime event to be able to experience it esally right here on the beautiful great lakes and obviously have some great weather today so I marked on my calendar a year ago and to make it back here um and take it in you know and get a chance to hang out with with the city I spent two years in it's been great I think like the biggest um thing that I've enjoyed is just seeing the interest from the city of Cleveland and how many people traveled here to take in the event today and to be able to then also go learn about the future of NASA and the future of space exploration as well at the same time um it's a Once a lifetime opportunity to take it in and it's been an honor to be here see know Josh NASA is really committed to inspiring the Next Generation through Discovery do you think maybe we created a few new uh future scientists and Engineers to here today I think so I think so there's a a a wealth of Youth walking around here and and taking in not only obviously the blowups and the displays outside but also the Great Lake Science Center inside and just seeing the history of the Space Program I think that gives them perspective and so that's just like NASA that's been my Approach you know I think the youth obviously is the next Generation they're going to have a tremendous impact on the the world and being able to inspire the youth out here and the youth across the country that if you have interest in stem and also are really good at sports um you don't have to split your eggs in you don't have to split up your eggs right like you can you can go out put all your eggs in both back baskets and work hard to achieve those goals and dreams now Josh we have time for one other question it's the most important question we're going to ask you who was the star today was it the Sun the moon or the Earth say the right thing Josh say the right thing roll drum roll drum roll the star of the day was the moon I got to go with it I got to go with it I got to go with the moon I do all right well I appreciate your honesty right I appreciate your honesty and I really appreciate you being here thank you so much Josh and it was great to have you here with us thank you guys for having me all right so we talked about the this controversial but friendly competition so actually we asked you guys to vote we have the results of that poll right now let us bring it up w all right congrats Sarah congrats team Earth 26% team Sun 26% as well but team Moon 48% congrats team moon today team Moon all right again thank you to everyone who participated we were the real winners of today though those who got a show but we're going to send it back over to Indianapolis for another really important interview thanks Megan we are back here in Indianapolis it has been an incredible day and it is not over yet with me I have Jake bleacher the chief exploration scientist for NASA Jake welcome I I could not be happier to be here how was that eclipse for you really quickly that was amazing it's getting warm again I still have my fleece on from when we were in totality that was incredible well today has been all about the eclipse all about the Sun's light and I want to Pivot a little bit here because you're getting astronauts ready to go back to the Moon live and work there for the first time in 50 years how is how the sunlight Shines on the moon also very crucial to what we're trying to do there yeah well just like this Eclipse it's the celestial dance between the Sun the Earth and the moon and when we go to the Moon we'll actually have instances of eclipses where the Earth will eclipse the sun wow uh so it's something to think about but uh we're really uh interested in the lighting in the South Pole our Artemis 3 mission will land astronauts at the South Pole and uh there because the moon has almost no axial tilt uh the light the sun is always right along the horizon wow and so high peaks have sunlight more than normal amounts of time and low depressions have almost no sunlight or never see the Sun and so we think there might actually be water trap there incredible so one thing that we've talked a little bit about on the broadcast is space weather and space weather is really important to understand especially when it comes to the safety of our astronauts can you describe how the instruments Ursa and Hermes are actually helping keep our astronauts safe yeah Ursa and Hermes are payloads science instruments that we'll have on our gateway gateway is going to be a station a research station that orbits the moon um and astronauts can stop there on their way to the surface of the Moon and these payloads or these science instruments will be there to basically detect what this the solar weather is like what we call space weather so that radiation that our astronauts will live in when they're actually there so understanding your weather is the best way to be prepared for it absolutely well you've given us a lot to be excited about Jake thank you for being here on this incredible day I would not have missed it well folks that is all we have from Indianapolis thank you for joining us it has been a wild ride pun absolutely intended and we've had an amazing time so from all of us here back to you guys thank you Lauren I did enjoy your pun and now back here in Cleveland we are joined by Jimmy Kenyan director of NASA's Glenn Research Center thank you for joining us and for hosting us really absolutely thanks for having us here well so yeah Glenn research center is right here in Cleveland just down the road the only NASA Center in the mid West the only one in today's path of totality literally everything aligned for us to get a great show here absolutely and it has it it has been such a great show here you could not have asked for better weather and uh it's springtime in the midwest that's always a little bit of a debate but you could not have asked for better weather uh what a great outing we're here with our partners at Great Lake Science Center um and which hosts our Visitor Center so where the people are and uh just a great opportunity to have everybody here and connect them with with what we do yeah yeah you hosted this wonderful 3-day event here and invited the community and all your visitors in to come and explore and learn a little bit about Glenn why was that important to you it's important but well as you know having a total solar eclipse pass over your community is for most people a once in a lifetime opportunity but to have a total solar eclipse pass over a NASA Community like Cleveland right that's even more rare but what it does is it creates such a great opportunity to connect people with what we do everybody is here paying attention to our planet paying attention to the Moon and the Sun and how all of these things work our solar system in our universe and and and that just gives us a great opportunity to say this is what we do right and connect people with that and that's you can't pass that kind of an opportunity up right and speaking of all like you said the science all this discovery that we're we're uh enabling today by the eclipse you know let's talk more about the science you know um I know that nothing flies without Glenn that's what love to say Jimmy so can you explain the center's critical role uh within NASA at Nasa Glenn we work on aircraft propulsion spacecraft propulsion power for both aircraft and spacecraft Communications uh we also work on materials and and testing in extreme environments but but but our core competencies is a power propulsion Communications no aircraft and no spacecraft flies without those three things and they never will and so Nas NASA Glenn is is literally part of virtually every NASA Mission well Jimmy thank you so much I really appreciate you being here and again hosting us this was a wonderful event I know so many people joined us here and really enjoyed it because we were watching we were looking out at the crowd lots of smiles so really thank you so much you and the Great Lake Science Center and thank you for being here and being part of this with us and and really putting putting NASA and NASA Glenn on the map here for us thank you Jimmy thanks so much have a great day all right and a big thank you to our whole team positioned across the path from our correspondents to our experts and our telescope operators we couldn't have done it without all of you and Sarah as we're taking again this aerial shot of the Great Lake Science Center so beautiful such a wonderful way to experience my first total solar eclipse and I hope you had a good time too because I know this isn't your first total solar eclipse this is my second but it was really great and special to to be able to experience it with you and and all the folks here yeah we did notice that people right after the people like they were trying to get out there's a lot of really fun events happening in Cleveland so there's a lot of people in downtown so I hope that they took some time to look up today and really enjoy what they saw yeah and not only all of the great views that we had but we also really did some cool science today too yeah really really cool science and actually yeah let let's talk about that you know NASA's uh Helio physics big year isn't over yet you know we had the annular Eclipse then we had the solar eclipse and now talk to us about what's happening in December yeah coming up on on Christmas Eve in fact Parker solar probe will make its closest approach to the sun 3.9 million miles which still seems like a long way to me but apparently that's actually pretty close yeah yeah I can't believe that's happening again just that it's all we've been saying this all day aligning everything is aligning for us to have a beautiful show and so yeah you know Sarah again thank you so much you know we watch this together Race Across Mexico to Maine in only an hour and 28 minutes and again we have so much more to look forward to so we hope you all stay with us as we continue studying our sun and how it affects us from all of us here at Nasa where we make air and space available for everyone thank you for watching and enjoy the rest of your day e for

Channel: USA TODAY

Views: 1,036,957

Keywords: usa today, usa today news, eclipse, solar eclipse, eclipse live, watch live, solar eclipse live

Id: dCMgv0MKxT4

Length: 207min 0sec (12420 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 08 2024