WEBVTT FILE 1 00:00:10.377 --> 00:00:10.944 So as 2 00:00:10.944 --> 00:00:15.699 the moon orbits the earth, sometimes it passes between the earth 3 00:00:15.699 --> 00:00:19.903 and the sun and when it does that, we get eclipses. 4 00:00:19.986 --> 00:00:23.606 Right now we're having an annular eclipse, which means it's coming between us 5 00:00:23.723 --> 00:00:27.394 on the earth and the sun, but it's not totally blocking out the main 6 00:00:27.394 --> 00:00:28.228 disk of the sun. 7 00:00:28.228 --> 00:00:32.549 And that means that as the moon passes in front of the sun, we'll see the sun 8 00:00:32.549 --> 00:00:35.285 peaking around the outside in this ring of fire. 9 00:00:40.407 --> 00:00:42.075 in an annular eclipse. 10 00:00:42.075 --> 00:00:45.361 The moon doesn't totally block out the main disk of the sun. 11 00:00:45.612 --> 00:00:48.965 And so you still see the sun peeking around. 12 00:00:48.965 --> 00:00:50.567 It gives us that ring of fire effect. 13 00:00:50.567 --> 00:00:55.121 And so it's never safe to look directly at any phase of the annular eclipse. 14 00:00:55.205 --> 00:00:57.791 But during a total solar eclipse, the moon fully 15 00:00:57.791 --> 00:01:01.094 blocks out that bright main disk of the sun. 16 00:01:01.244 --> 00:01:04.330 And then we get to see the much fainter corona around it, 17 00:01:04.330 --> 00:01:05.915 the atmosphere of the sun. 18 00:01:05.915 --> 00:01:09.519 And that's part of the solar eclipse totality. 19 00:01:09.519 --> 00:01:11.805 When the main disk of the sun is totally blocked, 20 00:01:11.805 --> 00:01:13.823 is safe to view with your naked eye. 21 00:01:18.762 --> 00:01:21.147 The annular eclipse is totally safe. 22 00:01:21.147 --> 00:01:23.133 We never look directly at the sun, 23 00:01:23.133 --> 00:01:26.603 but there are safe ways to view the annular eclipse. 24 00:01:26.669 --> 00:01:31.207 If you have solar approved glasses, you can wear those. 25 00:01:31.291 --> 00:01:34.477 You can also view the annular eclipse indirectly 26 00:01:34.477 --> 00:01:36.146 through a pinhole camera. 27 00:01:41.117 --> 00:01:45.522 On April 8th of 2024, It's going to be a total solar eclipse 28 00:01:45.605 --> 00:01:51.828 that comes across the United States, up through Texas, up and out through Maine. 29 00:01:51.895 --> 00:01:55.949 A total solar eclipse happens when the moon comes between the earth 30 00:01:55.949 --> 00:01:56.766 and the sun. 31 00:01:56.766 --> 00:02:00.019 And it totally blocks the main disk of the sun. 32 00:02:00.086 --> 00:02:05.775 And then we get to see the atmosphere of the sun called the the solar corona. 33 00:02:05.859 --> 00:02:07.677 That's the part of the sun that I study. 34 00:02:07.677 --> 00:02:11.981 And so I am so excited to actually get to see it from here on Earth. 35 00:02:17.270 --> 00:02:18.955 I am so excited 36 00:02:18.955 --> 00:02:23.409 for the total solar eclipse where we get to see the sun's corona, 37 00:02:23.476 --> 00:02:28.231 the atmosphere of the sun, because the moon blocks the main body of the sun. 38 00:02:28.314 --> 00:02:30.800 The corona is the part of the sun that I study 39 00:02:30.800 --> 00:02:34.571 and I'm so excited to actually get to see it with my own eyes. 40 00:02:34.637 --> 00:02:39.809 NASA makes artificial eclipses all the time with its spacecraft 41 00:02:39.959 --> 00:02:42.412 so that we can observe the corona 42 00:02:42.412 --> 00:02:45.849 all the time and not have to wait for the moon to come between us and the earth. 43 00:02:45.915 --> 00:02:48.601 But of course it's just different getting to actually stand on earth 44 00:02:48.601 --> 00:02:51.321 and actually witness it with your own eye. 45 00:02:56.776 --> 00:03:00.613 We are so excited about the heliophysics big year. 46 00:03:00.613 --> 00:03:01.514 This is a big year 47 00:03:01.514 --> 00:03:05.351 kicking off with the annular eclipse going through the total solar eclipse 48 00:03:05.535 --> 00:03:09.355 and all the way until Parker Solar probe one of our NASA's missions 49 00:03:09.422 --> 00:03:13.009 until Parker Solar probes closest approach to the sun. 50 00:03:13.092 --> 00:03:18.248 During this time we have many citizen scientist projects that people all over 51 00:03:18.248 --> 00:03:23.203 the world can get involved with to study the sun, to help study the aurora. 52 00:03:23.286 --> 00:03:27.307 So many projects for anybody in the community to get involved with. 53 00:03:32.378 --> 00:03:33.596 during eclipses 54 00:03:33.596 --> 00:03:35.665 We have a unique opportunity 55 00:03:35.665 --> 00:03:38.735 to study the connectivity between the sun and the Earth. 56 00:03:38.935 --> 00:03:41.938 How the sun really influences the Earth. 57 00:03:41.938 --> 00:03:44.791 One way is as the moon 58 00:03:44.791 --> 00:03:48.278 blocks the sunlight from the sun onto the earth, 59 00:03:48.361 --> 00:03:50.730 we can watch how that impacts the Earth's atmosphere 60 00:03:50.730 --> 00:03:54.767 and the special layer of the Earth's atmosphere called the ionosphere. 61 00:03:54.834 --> 00:03:58.888 This is a special conducting layer of the atmosphere, and it impacts 62 00:03:58.888 --> 00:04:03.092 our radio waves so we can watch how that little patch of reduced sunlight, 63 00:04:03.126 --> 00:04:06.229 how that how the ionosphere responds to that. 64 00:04:11.351 --> 00:04:12.318 if you're outside 65 00:04:12.318 --> 00:04:15.755 the path of totality or outside the main path of annularity. 66 00:04:15.939 --> 00:04:18.458 You can still see a partial eclipse. 67 00:04:18.458 --> 00:04:21.077 So a partial eclipse happens when the moon passes 68 00:04:21.077 --> 00:04:23.896 between where you're standing on the earth and the sun. 69 00:04:23.896 --> 00:04:27.500 But it doesn't totally block out or come between us and the sun. 70 00:04:27.583 --> 00:04:30.887 And then the safe way to watch that is indirectly 71 00:04:30.887 --> 00:04:36.676 with a pinhole projector or with special solar viewing approved glasses, 72 00:04:41.731 --> 00:04:42.732 So the sun goes 73 00:04:42.732 --> 00:04:46.619 through an 11 year cycle where the magnetic field concentrations 74 00:04:46.619 --> 00:04:51.007 on the sun and the explosions from those magnetic field concentrations 75 00:04:51.090 --> 00:04:54.093 increase in frequency and then decrease in frequency. 76 00:04:54.327 --> 00:04:58.231 So right now we're headed to solar maximum where the number of explosions 77 00:04:58.231 --> 00:04:59.832 is increasing in frequency. 78 00:04:59.832 --> 00:05:01.901 We call that solar maximum. 79 00:05:01.901 --> 00:05:04.053 We're safe here on the earth. 80 00:05:04.053 --> 00:05:04.687 But of course 81 00:05:04.687 --> 00:05:08.908 our satellites can experience adverse effects from these solar storms. 82 00:05:09.125 --> 00:05:12.011 And one of the beautiful things we get to see here on earth are 83 00:05:12.011 --> 00:05:13.446 the aurora borealis.