U.S. begins one month countdown to solar eclipse

Record ID: 903602

  • Title: U.S. begins one month countdown to solar eclipse
  • Date: 21st July 2017
  • Summary: GREENBELT, MARYLAND, UNITED STATES (JULY 21, 2017) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) NASA SCIENTIST DR. MICHELLE THALLER SAYING: "Well this is something that really is a once in a lifetime event for so many people. The earth, the moon and the sun are going to line up perfectly so that the moon actually blocks out the sun and casts a shadow down on the earth. And there's about a 70 mile path that it's going to go all the way across the United States. It's going to start in Portland Oregon and actually exit in Charleston, South Carolina and in that one little strip the sky will go entirely dark. The moon will entirely cover up the sun."
  • Embargoed: 4th August 2017 18:38
  • Keywords: Solar Eclipse NASA scientist totality
  • Location: GREENBELT, MARYLAND, UNITED STATES
  • City: GREENBELT, MARYLAND, UNITED STATES
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Science
  • Reuters ID: LVA0026QNW2MF
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: As thousands in the United States get ready to view the Aug. 21 solar eclipse through their special glasses, NASA will be using 11 different spacecraft to study the sun's outer atmosphere during the duration of the eclipse, NASA scientist Dr. Michelle Thaller said.
    "The moon is blocking out the main bright disk of the sun. So you can actually see what those levels of solar atmosphere are doing. It's called the corona. It's spectacular. And actually the way the corona works is still fairly mysterious," Thaller said on Friday (July 21).
    NASA will also fly high-altitude research balloons and airplanes for solar physics and other experiments.
    During the eclipse, the moon will pass between the sun and Earth, blocking the face of the sun and leaving only its outer atmosphere, or corona, visible in the sky.
    It is the first coast-to-coast total eclipse since 1918.
    Total solar eclipses occur somewhere on Earth every year or so, but most cast their shadow over oceans or remote land. The last total eclipse over part of the contiguous U.S. was in 1979.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2017. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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