WEBVTT FILE 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.990 [slate] 2 00:00:04.010 --> 00:00:08.020 [slate] 3 00:00:08.040 --> 00:00:12.050 4 00:00:12.070 --> 00:00:16.120 Yeah we are so excited for this total solar eclipse. It's going to 5 00:00:16.140 --> 00:00:20.210 be where the sun and the moon and the Earth are just perfectly aligned. 6 00:00:20.230 --> 00:00:24.360 The moon is in between the sun and the Earth blocking out the sun's light 7 00:00:24.380 --> 00:00:28.420 casting its shadow down on the United States. And that's super cool. 8 00:00:28.440 --> 00:00:32.480 The path of totality, the path where this moon blocks the sun's light 9 00:00:32.500 --> 00:00:36.560 the main body of the sun, comes in through Oregon, goes 10 00:00:36.580 --> 00:00:40.690 across the United States and exists out of South Carolina. 11 00:00:40.710 --> 00:00:44.880 And so it crosses 14 states and even if you're not in the path of totality 12 00:00:44.900 --> 00:00:48.930 you will get to see a partial eclipse which means that you'll see the moon 13 00:00:48.950 --> 00:00:53.020 take a bite out of the sun basically and it will get darker where you are. 14 00:00:53.040 --> 00:00:57.050 [slate] 15 00:00:57.070 --> 00:01:01.250 [slate] 16 00:01:01.270 --> 00:01:05.320 Scientists are super excited about the total solar eclipse. When the moon 17 00:01:05.340 --> 00:01:09.410 blocks the sun's light, we get to see the solar corona around the 18 00:01:09.430 --> 00:01:13.530 moon. So the solar corona is the sun's atmosphere. 19 00:01:13.550 --> 00:01:17.720 And it's not very bright so we usually can't see it. During a total solar eclipse 20 00:01:17.740 --> 00:01:21.770 we can. And this is where all sorts of dynamics, magnetic explosions 21 00:01:21.790 --> 00:01:25.860 occur. The corona is incredibly hot and we don't understand why 22 00:01:25.880 --> 00:01:29.990 that is. That's what I study. So we want to understand all of these 23 00:01:30.010 --> 00:01:34.180 dynamics that are going on on the sun because the sun of course affects us here, Earth. 24 00:01:34.200 --> 00:01:38.220 It affects all of the planets in the solar system. 25 00:01:38.240 --> 00:01:42.390 [slate] 26 00:01:42.410 --> 00:01:46.570 So NASA studies the sun in a lot of different ways. We study it 27 00:01:46.590 --> 00:01:50.640 with our satellites where we look at the sun in different wavelengths. 28 00:01:50.660 --> 00:01:54.750 Ultraviolet light, light that you can't see with your eye. And we 29 00:01:54.770 --> 00:01:58.890 watch these solar storms that happen. These solar storms that these magnetic 30 00:01:58.910 --> 00:02:02.960 explosions on the sun they can hit the Earth, they can hit the other planets. 31 00:02:02.980 --> 00:02:07.030 In fact even on just a normal day on the sun there are little magnetic explosions 32 00:02:07.050 --> 00:02:11.110 and the corona streams off of the sun 33 00:02:11.130 --> 00:02:15.240 filling the solar system, interacting with the planets. It can interact with 34 00:02:15.260 --> 00:02:19.430 the atmospheres of planets. It can interact with 35 00:02:19.450 --> 00:02:23.520 even stripping off some of the atmosphere like the ancient Martian atmosphere. 36 00:02:23.540 --> 00:02:27.540 [slate] 37 00:02:27.560 --> 00:02:31.580 [slate] Parker Solar Probe 38 00:02:31.600 --> 00:02:35.650 will be going to the corona. It will be launched in 2018 39 00:02:35.670 --> 00:02:39.760 and we are so excited about this mission. The Parker Solar Probe 40 00:02:39.780 --> 00:02:43.910 is going to touch the corona in contrast to our regular 41 00:02:43.930 --> 00:02:47.930 our other missions where we get to look at the corona. And in a total solar eclipse 42 00:02:47.950 --> 00:02:51.990 we get to look at the corona in images and we can learn a lot from that. 43 00:02:52.010 --> 00:02:56.080 But to actually get to stick the thermometer in the corona, that's going to be 44 00:02:56.100 --> 00:03:00.220 super cool. And we've never been this close to the sun, so we are very excited. 45 00:03:00.240 --> 00:03:04.250 46 00:03:04.270 --> 00:03:08.390 [slate] 47 00:03:08.410 --> 00:03:12.520 The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter 48 00:03:12.540 --> 00:03:16.700 picks out the very specific topography of the moon, 49 00:03:16.720 --> 00:03:20.760 the peaks and valleys on the moon to within a centimeter. 50 00:03:20.780 --> 00:03:24.840 The shape of the moon, because the moon isn't a perfect sphere, tells us how 51 00:03:24.860 --> 00:03:28.960 the shadow of the moon is going to land on the Earth. 52 00:03:28.980 --> 00:03:33.120 Because it doesn't make a perfect circle, there are jagged edges because of these peaks and valleys. 53 00:03:33.140 --> 00:03:37.130 [slate] 54 00:03:37.150 --> 00:03:41.170 So the details 55 00:03:41.190 --> 00:03:45.240 of exactly of what you're going to see in your city can be found at eclipse2017.nasa.gov. 56 00:03:45.260 --> 00:03:49.340 But in general if you're in the path of totality 57 00:03:49.360 --> 00:03:53.500 you will see the moon totally block 58 00:03:53.520 --> 00:03:57.560 the main body of the sun and you'll see this solar corona, the solar atmosphere around it 59 00:03:57.580 --> 00:04:01.650 If you're in a partial eclipse which is all of North America, 60 00:04:01.670 --> 00:04:05.790 central America and even parts of South America, then what you'll see is 61 00:04:05.810 --> 00:04:09.950 the moon pass in front of the sun, but not block all of its light. And so with 62 00:04:09.970 --> 00:04:14.010 a pinhole projector you can watch the moon go across the sun 63 00:04:14.030 --> 00:04:18.110 and take a bite out of the sun's light. And 64 00:04:18.130 --> 00:04:22.220 it's just going to be super cool wherever you are. 65 00:04:22.240 --> 00:04:26.270 [slate] 66 00:04:26.290 --> 00:04:30.460 Yes we never want to look 67 00:04:30.480 --> 00:04:34.530 directly at the sun with the naked eye. That can do extreme damage. 68 00:04:34.550 --> 00:04:38.630 to your eye. There are special safety glasses, safety solar glasses. 69 00:04:38.650 --> 00:04:42.770 So not sunglasses. These special safety glasses you can 70 00:04:42.790 --> 00:04:46.820 watch the eclipse with. You can look directly at the sun during the eclipse or 71 00:04:46.840 --> 00:04:50.870 you can use an indirect method like a pinhole camera projector 72 00:04:50.890 --> 00:04:54.970 You put the sun behind you, the sun comes through your pinhole or you can even go 73 00:04:54.990 --> 00:04:59.100 like this with your hands to make a little pinhole. The projected image 74 00:04:59.120 --> 00:05:03.290 will go down on the ground on a piece of people below you 75 00:05:03.310 --> 00:05:07.380 and you can watch safely then the moon come across the 76 00:05:07.400 --> 00:05:11.500 sun and that's the safe way to watch it if you're in a partial eclipse or even if you're in a 77 00:05:11.520 --> 00:05:16.763 total solar eclipse before and after totality.