This August,
the US will experience what's
being dubbed by some as
the ‘Great American Eclipse,’
the first total solar eclipse
seen from the U.S. coast to coast
in nearly a century.
While a partial eclipse will be
visible to most US states, sky
watchers are expected to flock
here, the path of totality,
the only area where a total
eclipse can be seen.
>> A total eclipse is something
that everybody should put
on their bucket list because
it's one of the most remarkable
scenes in all of nature.
[MUSIC]
>> A solar eclipse
happens when the moon
passes between the Earth and
the sun, casting areas of
the earth's surface in darkness.
It shouldn't be confused with
the more common lunar eclipse,
where the Earth passes
between the moon and the sun.
The total eclipse
happens in five phases.
The first phase
begins as the moon
makes first contact
with the sun.
The second phase occurs moments
before the moon totally
encompasses the sun, sunlight
escapes past the moon's peaks
and valleys causing the diamond
ring effect and Bailey's beads.
>> That dazzling diamond
shrinks down and
gets fainter and fainter.
And finally, that remaining
little crescent breaks up
into a string of bright beads.
>> The third phase, totality,
is the only time that the sun's
outermost atmosphere,
the corona, can be viewed.
The fourth phase happens
as totality ends and
the moon begins moving away from
the sun's path, when viewers
can again observe the diamond
ring effect and Bailey's beads.
The fifth phase occurs
as the eclipse ends.
A total solar eclipse
happens every year to
any given area across the globe.
On average, though,
it only passes one location in
the Northern Hemisphere
every 375 years or so.
The event will give scientists
in the U.S. a rare opportunity
to study the sun as well.
>> Certainly, one of the biggest
mysteries about the sun's corona
is its temperature.
As you travel away from
the sun's surface and
move up through the corona, you
should expect the temperature to
go down, but
it doesn't, it goes up.
>> The next total solar eclipse
to hit the U.S. is expected in
April 2024.
>> That one begins in the
Pacific, crosses into Mexico,
and then it cuts into
the United States in Texas,
up through Indiana and
up into Ohio, and
through the New England
states and Southern Canada.
Now, because that happens in
April, the weather prospects for
that aren't as good as
this one in August.
>> But
if you want to be there for
the ‘Great American Eclipse,’
it's August or never.
