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[slate]

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[slate]

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Well on August 21st something

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really wonderful happens and it's actually rather simple. The moon is going to move in front of the sun

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and block out the sun's light. And wherever you are in the United States you're going to

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see something really unusual. A lot of people will see a partial eclipse where only part

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of the sun is blocked out. If you're lucky enough you'll be in the path of totality

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where the entirety of the sun is blocked out. What's really going is the moon is casting

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its shadow down on the Earth. And this shadow is going to start crossing the United States

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around about in Oregon. Move all the way across and actually exit in South Carolina.

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So there are millions of people underneath that shadow that are going to

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they're all going to have a chance to see something really spectacular.

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[Second SOT no graphics] Well a wonderful thing is happening on August 21st and it's actually very

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simple. The moon is going to move in front of the sun and block out the sun's light.

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And that means that moon is actually going to be casting a shadow down on the Earth. And we

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been incredibly lucky because here in the United States that shadow goes all the way across the

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continental United States. It starts in Oregon and goes out in South Carolina.

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Even if you're not in that path of totality where the shadow is completely

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blocking out the sun, you can still participate in something called a partial eclipse.

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where the moon is blocking out some of the light from the sun. So everybody in North

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America on August 21st has the chance to see something really

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unique and incredibly special.

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[slate]

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Well that's right, it's dangerous to look at the sun even if it's a partial eclipse, even if most of the

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sun is covered. If any bit of the solar surface is still showing don't look at it.

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One of the things you can do is have a safe pair of eclipse viewing glasses. And these actually

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are safe to look directly at the sun through. So that's one way to do it. If you can't get

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safety eclipse glasses, there are ways you can project the sun down onto the ground and

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look at it. Just a simple pinhole. Just hold something up with a small

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pinhole through it and let the sun shine through it onto the ground and you'll see a projection

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of what the sun looks like. You can do that looking down at the bottom of a box too with a pinhole through it.

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One of the easiest ways that I know to do it is just simply make tiny little holes

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by crossing your fingers together. Let the sun shine down your fingers

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Look at what's happening on the ground and you'll see an image of the eclipse being

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projected. [second SOT no graphics] Well that's right, it's always

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dangerous to look at part of the exposed surface of the sun. It'll burn your eyes.

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So one of the things you can do is get yourself a safe pair of eclipse viewing glasses.

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If you have these on you can actually look up in the sky directly at the sun and you'll be protected

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But if you don't have a pair of eclipse viewing glasses there are other ways you can do this

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too. And the simplest way that i know to do it is to simply make a pinhole in something.

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Poke a hole in something, it can be a piece of cardboard. You can actually take your hands

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cross your fingers together and make lots of little holes between your fingers. Let the light

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shine down through that pinhole and look down on the ground below you

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and you will actually see a focused image of the sun. As the moon moves in front of the

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sun, you'll see the sun turn into a crescent and actually change shape. So

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wherever you are it's very very simple to observe the eclipse, simply let the sun shine

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through a pinhole and you can watch it all happen down on the ground below you.

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[slate]

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Well that's right if you're lucky enough to be in that rather narrow

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strip only about 65 miles across you can actually take off

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your glasses during the peak of the eclipse. What you're going to see is

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the moon will slowly start moving in front of the sun blocking out more and more. This

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something called the diamond ring effect where there's a little of light shining still. Once this is one

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you will actually something called the corona, the atmosphere of the sun.

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At this point it's safe to take off your eclipse glasses, but be sure to put them back on

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again when even a little bit of the solar surface comes out on the other side.

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But when the moon is entirely blocking the sun and you can see the corona

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definitely take off your glasses. This is the only time you can safely look

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at the sun directly in the sky. [Second SOT no graphics] At

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first you'll see the moon moving in front of the sun more and more, and through your safe eclipse

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glasses you can watch the sun becoming more and more crescent shaped. But then

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finally when the moon entirely covers up the sun, you'll actually be able to see something

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called the solar corona. This is the outer atmosphere of the sun, it's actually

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a wonderful million degree cloud of gas that can form wonderful

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tendrils and shapes because of the sun's magnetic field. Take off your glasses at this point and actually enjoy seeing the solar corona around the sun.

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The moon will slowly move off the sun and as soon as it does put

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your eclipse glasses back on. Even if there's a tiny little bit of the sun's surface showing

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it's not safe. But this is amazing, there really is going to be a time for about two and a half minutes

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where you can look directly at the sun and it will be one of the most spectacular shows you've ever

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seen.

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[slate] Well of course there are many more people

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in the United States that are going to be seeing a partial eclipse that aren't actually in the path of totality.

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But that doesn't mean you're going to be miss out on some really wonderful things. One of the things you'll

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notice during the day, is if you can actually see the sun using either eclipse glasses

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or projection device, you can see the shape of the sun change.

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Here you can see the moon is blocking out the sun. One of my favorite things to do is look

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at a tree with lots of leaves. Look and see how the sunlight is filtering

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down onto the ground through the leaves. The leaves are making lots of tiny little pinhole

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cameras and projecting images of the sun. So all day long, the whole thing

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it takes about four hours from start to finish. You can see the moon start to move in front of

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the sun. And even if it never completely covers it up, you'll notice the sky going

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darker, you'll notice shadows changes and hopefully you have a pinhole camera and you can

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actually watch the shape of the sun change. [Second SOT no graphics]

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There are far more people in the United States that are going to be experiencing a partial eclipse and this can

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also be really fascinating. For one thing you can actually view it with your eclipse glasses if you have

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happen to have them. Directly looking at the moon moving in front of the sun. But if you

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don't have eclipse glasses you can make one of these projection cameras. Simple get a pinhole

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to let the sunshine through it and actually want an image of the sun

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indeed change from the projection. One of the favorite things I like to

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for is a tree and if you can see sunlight filtering through the leaves of the tree

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on the ground you'll notice that the shapes of the shadows are changing. So there

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are many ways you can observe really wonderful changes going on all around you. And that

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a really simple way to participate in the eclipse is that NASA will have several live television

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broadcasts from across the country. So you can actually tune in

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to people who are in the path of totality and see what's going on there. So for that

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NASA.gov/eclipselive and all day long

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we're going to be having wonderful coverage of the eclipse.

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[slate]

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I've been lucky enough to see two total eclipses of the sun. I've seen one in Egypt and one

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in Siberia. And although I'm a scientist and of course I understand what's going on

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it really doesn't prepare you for how beautiful these things are.

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When the moon entirely covers up the sun and you see the solar corona

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this is a gorgeous, complex structure. The atmosphere of the sun

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that's being influenced by the magnetic field of the sun. You see this dark, hold

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in the sky where the sun should be. These streamers of corona coming out

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You may actually even see prominences, these wonderful giant loops of

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gas above the sun's surface. You can actually see those around the edge

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of the moon. You can see the planets Mercury and Venus out next to the sun.

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You can see the bright stars around the sun. And all around you

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360 degrees you see a sunset. There's nothing like that

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ever happens besides a total solar eclipse. The first time I saw one

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it was almost like looking up into the sky of a different world. This wasn't

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the sky that Earth should have. It affects you deeply. I really think

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that you owe it to yourself sometime in your lifetime. Maybe not next week, but maybe someday later

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do see a total solar eclipse.

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[Second SOT no graphics] It's really hard to describe how profound seeing a total eclipse of the sun

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is. The sky actually goes dark during the day and you look up and

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at the sky and you see the completely covered sun. It's like there's a black

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hole in the sky and there are these streamers of corona coming out from it

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you can actually see the planets Mercury and Venus next to the sun. You can see

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the bright stars above you and all the way around you there's a sunset.

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360 degrees. There's nothing like that ever

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except a total eclipse of the sun. The first time I saw one which was actually

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in Egypt, it was almost like looking up into the sky of another world. It was

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felt wonderful but also kind of spooky, it affects you.

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It actually gives you goose bumps. So I have to say this is actually more

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profound and emotionally resonant than you might think. I think that

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if I had advice to anybody, no matter you are, sometime in your life,

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try to get yourself to a total eclipse of the sun. It actually will change you.

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[slate]

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Well the best place to go is

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NASA has set up this wonderful website with safety tips, viewing tips, maps

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Go to eclipse2017.nasa.gov.

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You can find out all sorts of things like the science that NASA is doing around

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this eclipse. Where there are local events like libraries and museums near you

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that you can participate in. This is a wonderful one-stop-shopping place

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to find out everything you need to know about the eclipse.

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[Second SOT no graphics] Well NASA has set up a really wonderful website. There are tips

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about how to view the eclipse. There are maps of where the different shapes of the shadow

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are going to be. There are links to all kinds of local events that are going on at libraries or

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museums or zoos. So for all of that go to eclipse2017.nasa.gov

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.nasa.gov. So you should be able to find out everything

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you need there. We've set it up so that all your questions will be answered.