WEBVTT FILE 1 00:00:11.136 --> 00:00:11.678 Sure. 2 00:00:11.678 --> 00:00:13.179 So an eclipse happens. 3 00:00:13.179 --> 00:00:17.100 A solar eclipse happens when the Moon crosses between the Earth and the Sun. 4 00:00:17.684 --> 00:00:21.646 For this total solar eclipse, the Moon is going to completely block out 5 00:00:21.646 --> 00:00:25.316 the Sun and its shadow will be cast on on the Earth. 6 00:00:25.316 --> 00:00:28.403 And so if you're lucky enough to be in that path of totality, 7 00:00:28.653 --> 00:00:32.115 you're going to see the outer corona of the Sun. 8 00:00:32.115 --> 00:00:34.159 That's the upper atmosphere of the Sun. 9 00:00:34.159 --> 00:00:38.329 If you're outside of that path of totality, you will have a partial eclipse, 10 00:00:38.329 --> 00:00:42.083 which means you won't be able to see that full totality, but you'll experience 11 00:00:42.083 --> 00:00:45.086 a partial eclipse nonetheless. 12 00:00:51.968 --> 00:00:52.385 Right. 13 00:00:52.385 --> 00:00:55.764 So make sure that you have your solar eclipse glasses handy. 14 00:00:55.930 --> 00:00:58.099 They're designed specifically to look at the Sun. 15 00:00:58.099 --> 00:00:59.976 So actually, when you put them up to your eyes, 16 00:00:59.976 --> 00:01:02.979 you won't be able to see anything but the Sun itself. 17 00:01:03.146 --> 00:01:06.232 If you don't have these solar eclipse viewing glasses handy, 18 00:01:06.441 --> 00:01:10.737 you can actually create a pinhole projector so that you can see 19 00:01:10.737 --> 00:01:15.158 what the shadow of the Sun is casting down through that pinhole projector. 20 00:01:15.366 --> 00:01:17.744 If you don't have that, things around the house work too. 21 00:01:17.744 --> 00:01:19.245 So you can get a calendar, 22 00:01:19.245 --> 00:01:23.416 something that has a bunch of little holes in it, or you can make your own by kind 23 00:01:23.416 --> 00:01:26.503 of bringing your fingers together and letting the Sun shine through. 24 00:01:36.012 --> 00:01:38.556 So the 2017 solar eclipse. 25 00:01:38.556 --> 00:01:41.559 First of all, it had a different path across the U.S. 26 00:01:41.768 --> 00:01:45.647 And this path, the totality path, is actually going to be wider this time. 27 00:01:45.980 --> 00:01:48.983 Totality is also going to last a little bit longer. 28 00:01:49.025 --> 00:01:52.028 We're maxing out around about four and a half minutes 29 00:01:52.028 --> 00:01:55.824 and we have more people living within that path of totality. 30 00:01:55.824 --> 00:01:58.910 So this time we have about 31 million people 31 00:01:59.077 --> 00:02:02.038 who live across that path, which means hopefully 32 00:02:02.038 --> 00:02:05.041 we'll have more viewers for that total solar eclipse as well. 33 00:02:13.716 --> 00:02:14.467 Absolutely. 34 00:02:14.467 --> 00:02:18.263 So the first thing that you can do is experience your eclipse 35 00:02:18.263 --> 00:02:19.430 and talk about it as well. 36 00:02:19.430 --> 00:02:22.267 Talk about that experience and what it meant for you. 37 00:02:22.267 --> 00:02:26.396 Now, NASA has several projects that you can actually get involved with as well. 38 00:02:26.771 --> 00:02:31.151 Globe Observer is the first one, and that is a way to actually track 39 00:02:31.151 --> 00:02:34.612 what the temperature and the cloud coverage is at your location 40 00:02:34.737 --> 00:02:37.115 to report that out and help us to understand 41 00:02:37.115 --> 00:02:40.827 how the eclipse impacts weather that we experience here on Earth. 42 00:02:41.244 --> 00:02:44.622 Now, Sun Sketcher is another project that NASA is offering 43 00:02:44.747 --> 00:02:47.292 where you can actually help us to determine kind of the shape 44 00:02:47.292 --> 00:02:50.628 and the size of the Sun during the eclipse as well. 45 00:02:51.045 --> 00:02:52.755 And then finally, Soundscapes. 46 00:02:52.755 --> 00:02:55.216 So sounds change during the eclipse. 47 00:02:55.216 --> 00:02:59.429 And what I mean by that is that wildlife and nature around you may change. 48 00:02:59.429 --> 00:03:02.432 And so you have the opportunity to really help us 49 00:03:02.515 --> 00:03:06.144 to understand what those sounds are that you're experiencing, whether birds 50 00:03:06.311 --> 00:03:10.356 kind of start to nest and chirp and go in if the crickets come out as well. 51 00:03:19.449 --> 00:03:22.076 So as you said, during a total solar eclipse, 52 00:03:22.076 --> 00:03:25.622 it's one of the only times that we can really study the upper atmosphere. 53 00:03:25.872 --> 00:03:27.832 We have instruments called coronagraphs 54 00:03:27.832 --> 00:03:30.084 that allow us to do this on a regular basis. 55 00:03:30.084 --> 00:03:34.839 However, it doesn't let us get down into that lower portion of the corona as well. 56 00:03:35.173 --> 00:03:38.009 So scientists are really looking to understand kind 57 00:03:38.009 --> 00:03:41.054 of some of the wispy structures that will see some of the activity 58 00:03:41.054 --> 00:03:44.849 that the Sun is currently generating and really just study 59 00:03:44.849 --> 00:03:47.852 kind of the dynamics of the Sun at that time. 60 00:03:54.943 --> 00:03:55.318 Right. 61 00:03:55.318 --> 00:03:59.781 So the natural ones are important because they allow us to really understand 62 00:03:59.781 --> 00:04:03.076 what's going on lower in the corona, the disks that we get 63 00:04:03.076 --> 00:04:06.955 from the Coronagraph, those instruments, the way the light bends around them. 64 00:04:07.080 --> 00:04:10.792 We can't get really deep into that other portion of the corona. 65 00:04:10.792 --> 00:04:14.003 And so we have to have special experiments during the eclipse 66 00:04:14.170 --> 00:04:17.173 that let us study those so that we can really understand 67 00:04:17.215 --> 00:04:21.427 how the corona is being heated, how particles are being being accelerated 68 00:04:21.427 --> 00:04:22.387 out to space as well. 69 00:04:31.271 --> 00:04:31.604 Right. 70 00:04:31.604 --> 00:04:35.525 So for this eclipse, I am excited to compare it with my other eclipse 71 00:04:35.525 --> 00:04:36.526 experiences. 72 00:04:36.526 --> 00:04:39.821 I was able to view the total solar eclipse in 2017 73 00:04:40.154 --> 00:04:43.032 and then I was able to view the annular eclipse 74 00:04:43.032 --> 00:04:46.035 that just took place in October of 2023. 75 00:04:46.035 --> 00:04:48.997 And what I've learned is that each eclipse feels different 76 00:04:49.122 --> 00:04:51.874 not only because they might be different kinds of eclipses, 77 00:04:51.874 --> 00:04:53.668 but I'm located somewhere else. 78 00:04:53.668 --> 00:04:56.004 The people around me are different as well. 79 00:04:56.004 --> 00:04:59.090 And so just kind of comparing all of these experiences is what 80 00:04:59.090 --> 00:05:02.093 I'm looking forward to. 81 00:05:07.807 --> 00:05:09.392 Yeah, absolutely. 82 00:05:09.392 --> 00:05:12.395 So what we've been talking about is a total solar eclipse. 83 00:05:12.562 --> 00:05:16.149 When the moon comes between the Earth and the Sun and completely 84 00:05:16.149 --> 00:05:20.945 blocks out the Sun so that we can see that upper atmosphere of the Sun. 85 00:05:21.321 --> 00:05:24.615 Now, an annular eclipse happens in the same way 86 00:05:24.615 --> 00:05:27.618 where the Moon passes between the Earth and the Sun. 87 00:05:27.702 --> 00:05:30.288 The difference is that the Moon is actually going to be 88 00:05:30.288 --> 00:05:34.709 a little bit further from the Earth and it's not completely blocking the Sun. 89 00:05:34.959 --> 00:05:38.838 So for an annular eclipse, we're left with a ring of fire in the sky. 90 00:05:39.464 --> 00:05:42.675 Now, a partial eclipse is something else that we can experience 91 00:05:42.675 --> 00:05:45.803 where the Moon will block the Sun, but not fully. 92 00:05:45.803 --> 00:05:48.431 It won't fully cross over in between. 93 00:05:48.431 --> 00:05:51.434 And so just part of the Sun will be occulted. 94 00:05:51.434 --> 00:05:55.688 Then we also have lunar eclipses where in this case 95 00:05:55.813 --> 00:05:58.816 the Earth is between the Moon and the Sun. 96 00:05:58.900 --> 00:06:01.152 And those can occur quite frequently as well. 97 00:06:10.453 --> 00:06:11.329 So the Sun 98 00:06:11.329 --> 00:06:14.332 goes through an 11 year cycle of activity. 99 00:06:14.415 --> 00:06:17.835 It goes up to a maximum where it peaks in activity. 100 00:06:17.835 --> 00:06:20.922 There's more solar flares, there is more radiation 101 00:06:21.130 --> 00:06:24.217 coming off the Sun, there are more coronal mass ejections. 102 00:06:24.509 --> 00:06:29.263 And then in that 11 years, it reaches maximum, it comes back down to a minimum. 103 00:06:29.514 --> 00:06:33.601 And so right now we're at the point where we're actually reaching solar maximum 104 00:06:33.601 --> 00:06:36.604 and seeing that enhanced activity as well. 105 00:06:43.736 --> 00:06:45.321 Yes. So the viewers can visit, 106 00:06:45.321 --> 00:06:49.367 go to nasa.gov, slash Eclipse 2024, [ go.nasa.gov/Eclipse2024] 107 00:06:49.575 --> 00:06:52.912 and that will give you all sorts of information about viewing the eclipse. 108 00:06:53.079 --> 00:06:56.290 How to safely view it using those eclipse viewing glasses, 109 00:06:56.499 --> 00:07:01.295 and also looking for the map so that you can identify that path of totality. 110 00:07:01.629 --> 00:07:05.550 Now, an X, you can go to at NASA's Sun [ @NASASun ] to see some of the posts 111 00:07:05.550 --> 00:07:07.051 that we have on social media as well.