WEBVTT FILE

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[off camera] Well sky watchers around the world are gearing up for the opportunity

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to see a rare total solar eclipse. And NASA

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has some scientists on the ground there, but they are preparing to

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learn a lot about the sun. Here to tell us more is Dr. Alex Young

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from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. Thanks for joining us. [Young] It's my pleasure

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[off camera] So start by telling us what will happen during this eclipse?"

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[Young] The moon is going to move in front of the sun

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The moon is just right that it's going to cast a shadow down on the Earth.

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And those folks who are lucky enough to be in this

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shadow are going to see the moon completely block

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out the sun. This is what we call a total solar eclipse.

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And so it'll be travleing across Indonesia over some of the islands of Micronesia

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and out into the Pacific Ocean.

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[off camera] What will NASA scientists be doing during this eclipse?

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[Young] Scientists will be both testing out new technology

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and also studying the sun. They're going to get the opportunity

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to study the sun's corona, it's atmosphere

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that is millions of times dimmer than the solar disk

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We're looking at video right now, real data

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from the Solar Dynamics Observatory. This is showing you huge

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solar storms. These explosions sending out

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light, energy and material are many times the size of the Earth.

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And these solar storms can interact with

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a planet such as the Earth. They create beautiful things like the aurora, but they also

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impact our technologies-satellites, GPS

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and even be harmful to to astronauts in space. So it's really critical to

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that we understand the corona which is where all this action

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is happening. [off camera] Now the U.S. will

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be in prime position to see a total solar eclipse next year. Can you talk

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about what we're going to see?

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[Young] Yes on August 2017 this shadow is going to be

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cast down on the continental U.S. starting

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in Oregon moving diagonally across the U.S,

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down to South Carolina. And so folks

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that are again in this path of totality will

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get an opportunity to see this total solar eclipse. So we're hoping

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that everyone will get an opportunity to travel to their closest

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area to see this. But even if you don't see the total solar eclipse

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you'll get to see it broadcast live in addition everyone

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in North America, Central America, and part of South America will

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at least get to experience a partial eclipse. [off camera] Now where

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can we learn more and see some pretty pictures of the sun?

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[Young] Go to nasa.gov/eclipse

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and NASA.gov/SunEarth to see m

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more about eclipses and the sun. You can also check out what's happening on Twitter

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@NASASunEarth. [off camera] Great thanks for

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so much for joing us. [Young] Thank you very much.