NASA Science Live: Watch a Total Solar Eclipse in Australia [Episode 46]

On April 19 (in the US) / April 20 (Australia), the Moon will pass between the Sun and Earth, creating a total solar eclipse visible from Australia and Southeast Asia. Starting at 10:30 p.m. ET we will share live telescope views of the eclipse. Join NASA experts to learn about this rare phenomenon, see the eclipse through a telescope, and hear about the two upcoming eclipse events in the United States. Questions? Ask them in our live chat!__Denise Hill, NASA Communications; Dr. Kelly Korreck, Sun Expert, NASA Headquarters; and Dr. Henry Throop, Program Scientist, NASA Headquarters

What is said in the film

Hello and welcome to another episode of NASA's Science Live. This is an opportunity for you to interact with NASA experts and have your questions answered in real time. I'm your host, Denise Hill and we are taking you all the way to Australia where there's a total solar eclipse happening right now. This event is unique and rare because it's both a total an annular eclipse, which is known as a hybrid eclipse. We're going to see real time views thanks to our friends at time and date.

We're going to talk about the sun and answer some of your burning questions. You can send us questions using hashtag #AskNASA on social media or drop them in the comment box. Wherever you're watching this from. The sun touches everything. It is Earth's life force.

The Sun Earth connection is a vital part of our lives and society. It influences a variety of systems on earth like agriculture, economics, climate change, politics, food and food scarcity. As well as the physical, mental and emotional health of humans. We see its influence throughout our culture, in art, music, religion, fashion and sports, and a host of other trends. During tonight's event, we're also going to share a special upcoming opportunity for you to participate in some science.

So let's jump right in. I'm joined today by NASA's Sun science scientist, Dr. Kelly Korreck Kelly, thank you so much for being here today. Thank you so much, Denise. It's my pleasure.

So I think we should start off by first explaining the reason why we're here, the eclipse in Australia. So can you tell us how solar eclipses work and why this one is called the hybrid eclipse and what that even means? Definitely. Yeah. Let's get started.

So what a solar eclipse is, is it's an alignment and a dance between the moon, the earth and the sun. So the earth and the moon is in between the earth and the sun and casts a shadow on the earth. And that's a total solar eclipse when it completely blocks out the blocks of the sun. And that's because it's close to Earth. And we go through that as the moon goes round.

We don't have one every every month, but we do get them occasionally. We also have an annular eclipse and an annular eclipse happens because the moon doesn't stay in a perfectly circular orbit. It sometimes is a little bit further away, so it doesn't completely block out the sun. So it leaves this ring of fire around the sun, like in the image that you're seeing here in that annular eclipse. And this eclipse in Australia is a hybrid.

So part of the path of totality is going to see totality. So you're going to completely block out the sun. Another part is going to see the actual ring of fire. And so that's why it's a hybrid based on the curvature of the earth and where you are on the path, you're either going to see the total or you're going to see the annular eclipse. Okay.

So eclipses are super cool events to see in the sky. But why do scientists care about this? And what can we learn about them during these events? Great question. So what happens during these events is that we can actually see with our own eyes the sun's corona or hot outer atmosphere.

And that's something that we before before the space age, we really couldn't do any other way. So we were able to study things that flow off of the sun, seeing this constant solar wind during these during these eclipses. We also did things like experiments in related general relativity and discovery, a discovery of helium and other elements of the sun. So there's a lot of different things that you can do with eclipses. So thinking of some science.

Is there anything happening in Australia right now? Actually, there is. There is a kite experiment that is going on during this eclipse. So it's a new platform for us to actually take data from. We've done things before and rockets are balloons or spacecraft, but this is now a kite and you're shown here is a picture of this kite is 21 feet across and a fly around 3500 feet.

And it will actually take a spectrometer. So it'll split the light up is the instrument board as it looks at the sun and try to find that flow that I was talking about, that constant solar wind and how that escapes the sun during this eclipse. And if it's successful, they'll hopefully fly it again in 2024. When the eclipse comes to North America. All right.

So cool. Who knew flying a kite could be both fun and educational. I love it. So I mentioned at the top of the show that there will be opportunities for people to participate in fun science. Can you tell us a little bit about the heliophysics, the gear, what it is, and how folks watching can get involved?

Definite The sun and all of us are in for a big year starting in October of 2023 with the annular eclipse that goes across the U. S. and then down into Central and South America, then going to the April 8th, 2024 total solar eclipse, and then finally ending the long big year, December 2024, when Parker Solar Probe goes to the closest approach to the Sun 94% of the way to the sun to study that outer atmosphere that we're going to see here in a few minutes with with this total eclipse. And so this year is a way that we can all belong in science and all belong to learning about the sun and all the different ways that the sun touches our lives. And the term big year actually is a birding term, a citizen science birding term that is that is studying as many species as possible of birds in one year.

And what we're challenging folks to do is to study as many different things or relate to as many different things as they can about the sun. So can you see an annular eclipse? Can you see a total eclipse? What about Aurora? What about seeing a solar flare go off?

What about a participating in a sport or another event that relates you to the sun? And you mentioned citizen science. And citizen science is a big part of how folks can participate in the heliophysics this year. A few specifics come to mind. Like it could sound scary.

Soundscape is a citizen science project that allows you to participate in Eclipse research by observing and collecting audio recordings during upcoming upcoming solar eclipses. You then take the data and analyze it and determine how eclipses may affect the ecosystem. And to learn more about that, when you go to Eclipse. Soundscape scored another one is it called the Nationwide Eclipse Ballooning Project. And this one will engage teens from a range of colleges and universities in an adventure in scientific ballooning.

These teams will participate in scientific ballooning during the upcoming annular and total solar eclipses in 2023 and 2024. Across the eclipse path. Student teams will use innovative balloon systems to conduct experiments. To learn more about this project. Go to go dot nasa.

gov slash in e! BP. All right. Thank you, Kelly. We'll come back to you in just a moment to answer some of the questions we have coming in.

Don't forget to submit your questions using hashtag at NASA or pop them in the comment box on the platform that you're watching. So as Kelly just mentioned, there's a big year of fun science ahead of us. Mark your calendars, because on October 14th, 20, 23, there will be an annular eclipse where the moon only blocks the center part of the sun and create what looks like a ring of fire. And then on April 8th, 20, 24, millions of people across the U. S.

will have the chance to see a total solar eclipse. Where will you be? NASA's has some new maps that could help you decide. Let's take a look. Yeah.

I am so excited for these upcoming eclipses. And truth be told, I've never seen a total or an annular eclipse or the annular eclipse coming up later this year. I know exactly where I'm going to be. I am going to be in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and I am so excited. So to take a closer look at the now secrets maps in more detail, you can visit go dot NASA's dot gov slash U.

S. eclipse map. Let's chat with NASA expert who is in Australia right now for tonight's solar eclipse. We are joined by planetary scientist Dr. Henry Throop Thank you so much for being with us.

Henry Hey, thanks for having me here. So you're in Australia right now. Can you tell me exactly where you are? I am in Exmouth, Australia, which is in the Ningaloo Peninsula in the in Western Australia. This is a really remote region of Australia.

It's a long way from that closest city. Perth coast is large city, Perth, which is itself a very remote capital city. So there are thousands of people down here who have made the trek trek all the way out to Exmouth waiting for this for totality, which is going to be coming up here in in a little more than an hour, a little less than that. So that is so cool. It looks I see a ton of equipment back there.

Do you have anything with you and what are you going to be doing? So I have a solar telescope here myself. I'm going to be watching the sun as it as it disappears in in alpha, which is that the wavelength where you see it, a lot of the activity of the sun, you see a lot of these features on the sun, both on the disk itself and off of it, off to the side. There are thousands of people here with their own telescopes recording the sun, taking pictures of it in various ways. But most of people here are not scientists.

They are fans of the Sun and and are here for the excitement of being here at the Eclipse. There are there are thousands of people who've been coming in all morning. Let me just give you a little tour of the of the site here. You can see going ahead. We are royal right next to you, the right next to the ocean here.

A great place for the sharks. Here's looking at it, looking at the eclipse and and you can see all the thousands of people behind us there. That is awesome. I am so jealous right now. That looks so awesome.

Okay, we're going to let you go so you can go enjoy the eclipse and see it firsthand. Thank you so much for joining us. So here's a question. Since the moon orbits around Earth roughly once per month, how come we don't have total solar eclipses every year? So glad you asked.

Here's why the. All right. So many of you watching have questions about the sun, anybody. So let's get to some of those now, remember, if you have questions, you can send them to us on social media using the hashtag at NASA or just drop them in the comment box from wherever you're watching this from. So now I'm back with Sun expert Dr.

Kelly Couric. And we're about 30 minutes away from totality. As a reminder, you are seeing real time views of the eclipse in Australia thanks to our friends at time and date. KELLY Let's tackle some of these questions that are coming in online. But first I want to jump the line and ask a question myself.

I am curious about how do you watch an annular eclipse and a solar eclipse safely? That's a great question because really safety is our number one priority here. So for the annular eclipse, you will always have to use a pair of solar viewing glasses. These are not sunglasses. There are specific glasses that are made to a certain standard so that you can look at the sun through the annular eclipse or you can make an a indirect viewing device, which means that you're back as to the sun and that device is in front of you, whether that's a strainer, like a kitchen strainer or even your hands, you can make a strainer this way and project the image of the crescent moon on or the ring of fire on to on onto a wall or floor things, the things like that.

For the total solar eclipse, whenever the sun is only partially eclipse, you must again have those glasses. The safe eclipse glasses, not sunglasses to watch or the indirect viewing method. And during totality, we want you to be able to look directly at that corona, directly at that sun's corona, the beautiful atmosphere that we study and that really flows out towards us and connects us to the sun. So that's how you safely view an annular and a total solar eclipse. Okay.

So I think I got it so far, an annular eclipse. Eclipse glasses the entire time or indirect viewing method the entire time in for a total solar eclipse glasses indirect viewing until totality and then back to glasses and direct viewing. Exact. Got it. You got.

All right. Our first question from viewers online from is from Missouri you die in. If I said that, if I mispronounced that, please forgive me on Twitter, she's asking why are some eclipses longer than others? That's a really good question. And it does have to do with how they line up in the video that we saw just a little while ago to get the eclipse, you have to have the moon in the sun and the earth in that direct straight line.

And just sometimes it's just a little bit off in one direction. So you get some of the shadow, but not a lot. And based again, where that position actually is is how long you get the eclipse. So about the longest we could ever get theoretically is around 7 minutes, 7 minutes of eclipse. We're only going to get around a minute today in Australia, but we're very lucky to get about four and a half minutes next year in 2024 for the total eclipse.

Excellent. So I'm looking at what we're seeing now. Can you tell us what it is we're seeing, what we're looking at? Yeah. So right now what we have what we're looking at is the yellow or the white ball is the sun.

And we have the black crescent on the bottom is actually the moon's shadow going across or the moon's disk that you see blocking out the sun. So we've already made what is called first contact. So when the first looks like there's a little light taken out of the sun by the moon and we're moving through towards what will become the second contact, which meaning that that disk of the moon will will touch the other side of the disk of the sun. Wow. That's amazing.

Absolutely beautiful. All right. So let's head back to the questions online. Prince Z on YouTube asked, how many times does this happen and how long does it last and what impact does it have on our planet? So let's take that one in time.

How many times do you total eclipses happen? So there are there is a solar eclipse about every 18 months somewhere on the earth. But there is the earth is large and there's a lot of bodies of water. So sometimes it's over water and not land. So it's it's relatively, relatively common, you know, every year and a half.

But in one place, it averages around 375 to 400 years to get one in a specific place. So it's it's special to have it in your place. And you could probably find one if you flew somewhere in the in the world every two months. Okay. And how long you kind of answer this, how long they last.

And if you want to elaborate on that, talking about like the different time frame that you mentioned before. Yeah, definitely. So they can last anywhere from a few few seconds or a minute to actually, you know, up to seven is the 7 minutes would be the longest one, but that one's not going to happen for, for quite a long time. So really about 4 minutes is what, four and a half minutes we're going to see along the path in in 2024. And is there any impact of eclipses on the planet on Earth?

Definitely. So we're and we actually use them as a as a scientific study both here and and elsewhere. So when you're experiencing a total solar eclipse and this is one of the things that as beautiful as this image is, it can't quite capture it. It's a full body experience. So it becomes cooler.

So there's a temperature change. It also gets darker. So animals that normally go to sleep at night go to sleep because they think it's they think it's nighttime and then they wake up after the sun comes back up. So a rooster would crow or crickets would interpret, stop chirping and and all of these things. So it does have an effect on the earth.

And we're actually using it also in 2023 and 2024 to study the ionosphere or layer of the atmosphere where we actually use for a lot of communications and how that data instantly night shift. We're actually using it as a way to study that effect on Earth. That's awesome. That's amazing that it does have this impact and that animals and nature responds. I think that is so cool.

Okay, so next question to visit Tucker on YouTube asks, These really seem rare. So when is the next hybrid eclipse? Well, that's a good question. I actually don't know when the next hybrid eclipses. I'm going to have to look that up and we'll have to we'll have to find that and put that on the national website.

Do you know how rare they are? They do tend to be tend to be a little bit more rare than than the total or annular eclipse, because I think they have to happen at just a certain kind of geographic location. So they're a little more rare than than the total of this. The annular. Caroline Craig has a great question that I also have.

So like, what equipment do we use to determine when an eclipse like this is going to happen and how far in advance are these predictions made? How far in advance can we make? Can we predict when an eclipse is going to happen? That's a great question. And because we understand the orbital dynamics of the moon and the sun and the earth, we can actually predict them out very far.

There are maps of, you know, hundreds of years, if not thousands of years of data, because you can predict where the where the sun, the earth and the moon will be. And so we rely on that predictability. And actually, in millions of years from now, the moon will be moving, moving away so that it will not be able to actually do the do eclipses anymore. But that's really a long time away, but eventually will not. Yeah, that is happening long time.

Oh wow, that's really cool. Miki Montoya on YouTube asked a question you kind of already answered, but I'd love for you to elaborate on it. It's about like nature and like, will the birds go silent? And do we know why? Like, what do they think is happening since it's only for a short amount of time, right?

So it's for a short amount of time, but you kind of have a somewhat normal lead in to nighttime. So when you're when you're experiencing a normal nighttime, the sky gradually gets dimmer. You know, you start to see with a sunset, maybe a pink or orange or beautiful colors. And so, you know, you know, how to kind of get ready for bed or get ready for it to be nighttime. And so it's not you know, it's light is eerie, actually, as as you go into the solar eclipse, it's not quite the sunset, but it has some characteristics of the sunset.

So I'm not an animal expert, but I would guess I would guess that they would just sense that it is the same the same kind of characteristics of nighttime. So, okay, let's get ready for bed. And then suddenly the sun comes back up and they're like, Well, yes, that was the shortest nap ever. So I love that analogy. That is amazing that it it makes sense.

Kevin McKnight on Twitter asked, Does it go completely dark during totality? It gets very, very dark. And like I said, that the the light is very eerie. When I saw my first eclipse, the total eclipse in South Carolina, it was definitely that great dark, dark around the eclipse. And then there was this eerie all around the horizon, like orange light, much like a sunset type colors.

So it was very eerie light and it is significantly dark. Oh, that's excellent. I'm so looking forward to it. It just sounds so artistic and creative and amazing. Oh, this is a good one.

So might make on Facebook is asking for viewers to go in a little bit more detail on actual safety and eye safety on the glasses during the eclipses. So like when you were talking about thinking about like in Australia, they're having both a hybrid and a total eclipse, so annular and total. So can you talk about the differences and go through that again? Right. So we're our friend Henry was they will have a total solar eclipse.

So right now it's partial. The view that you're seeing from time and date is a partial eclipse and so at that point in time, you must have your safety glasses on, your eclipse glasses must be on or again, indirect viewing method. One of those two things. So Henry right now should only be looking at this through through safety glasses. And then once it becomes total, he'll take them.

He can take them off and be able to look at look at the sun and look at the corona and see what it's doing. I'm very interested to see see what we're going to see. And then once he knows that it's going to the sun, the moon is moving back in, you're going to see more sunlight. And that's when you have to put your glasses back on to the total. Now, if you were to go kind of a little bit further along the path of this eclipse, that is where you're going to see the annular eclipse.

So they're actually not going to get an annular and a total in the same place. They'll get a wall in this place within further along the path, it will become annular because the curvature of the earth is then making the moon just that slight further away. So it's just again, doesn't block out the whole entire sun. So that and that they must those people who are further along the path path of this eclipse who are going to be annular, must keep their glasses on the entire time. So they will not be able to see the corona themselves.

Oh, okay. Excellent. Thank you for clarifying. Adam F on Twitter asks How wide is the path of a color of a total solar eclipse in general, would you say? Right.

In general it could be normally around a couple hundred miles or a hundred miles. So I think it's 150 in 2024. And so, yes, it's about that wide. It's not super wide, but it's it's a good distance. Okay.

Next one, Sun, Right. Gosh, on YouTube. So this is a hybrid eclipse from Australia. So in Australia, it's a total eclipse. Where's the annular eclipse taking place, do you know?

I know it is. I think a Papua New Guinea like as you go up the path of totality. So I don't have the I don't have a visual of the of the path right now. But, but yes, as you as you would go for the path, you move to something again, much more like you see on the right of the annular eclipse that ring of fire. Okay.

And this is a really good question. So Brad Kimberly on YouTube is asking, are there special cameras or lenses made for cameras to record solar eclipses? There are. And this is another thing that we have to worry about with safety or at least think about plan about for safety. And so we don't want to just use our glasses with this.

So there are special filters for telescopes, binoculars and cameras that you can get. You can research and find appropriate, appropriate filters to put in front of those at the entrance of the sun. So we don't want to use our glasses in this case. We want to use one specific things designed for telescopes, photons or or or binoculars. Excellent.

Okay. Mohammed, Elma, I need to ask a question about the geometry of eclipses. So why is the sun and the moon, from our perspective, exactly the same size? That's great. And it's a matter of distance and size.

So the moon is the right distance away and the right size because the sun is bigger, but it's so far away. So it's 93 million miles away versus the moon being much closer. So it's the same that I've been explaining it as the fact that when you put your hand right up in front of your face like this, you can block out almost ever and see everything. So the moon's just that close where if you put it further away, you can see around it and everything. So it's just the fact that the moon happens to be the right, right size and shape and it's very close.

And so that's why it's able to able to block out the whole huge sun. But it's all a matter of perspective. I hear you saying, Yeah. All right, Adriano, That's why here on YouTube asked why is the annular eclipse called a ring of fire? And then she also sends us love from Arizona and says, We rock.

Yeah, I love Arizona, too. And so why they call it a ring of fire is that it looks like there is that orgy ring of fire around the around the moon as as this image shows, it looks like kind of something's on fire in a ring. So that's why it's called the ring of fire. Eclipse when it's an annular eclipse. Right.

So there is the sun is not actually on fire. There's no actual fire. It's just describing what it looks like is what you're saying. Exactly. The sun.

Yes, the sun is safe. Excellent. SimCity on YouTube as if the moon moves on a horizontal plane. Why are we watching the moon rise from the bottom up? So does the moon move on a horizontal plane?

Right. Okay. So the this the moon is inclined. So if the Earth's rotation, if the earth goes on this plane, it's inclined, the moon is inclined. There we go.

There's the graphics like it, there is ink is in kind as shown in this graphic. So it doesn't always hit the shadows, doesn't always hit the earth. And that's again why we don't have 12 eclipses every year because it's slightly off. And due to that geometry, that's why that's why it doesn't doesn't do so. It's not necessarily a horizontal plane.

And that's again, why we don't get Eclipse every month. All right. Chrissy Astro Molly on Twitter asks What observations are being done from space of the eclipse? And then anything from the other side of the moon or the moon shadow. But, you know, cool.

All right, great. So for the assets that we have in space that are watching the sun, they aren't necessarily in the path of the of this eclipse. Right. They don't necessarily live right over Australia per se, but we do make instruments that simulate an eclipse. So things called coronagraph.

So we basically make a false moon that kind of looks like a thumb that goes up in front of the camera and blocks out the center of the sun so that then we can go and see the corona that's coming off of it. So we do make space based eclipse observations, but they're not the natural eclipse observations. They end up being they end up being manufactured. We do sometimes in certain telescopes like Canada and I think SDO as well, Solar Dynamics Observatory, are able to get eclipses in their orbit as well, but they don't normally coincide with the ones that that we're talking about here. They because they're on a different orbit, they have a different trajectory that that line up the spacecraft and the moon and the sun.

So our team behind the scenes got us an answer to the question about why today's annular eclipse is visible. So or where today. I'm sorry, we're today's total solar eclipse. So the total eclipse is visible, visible in Australia and Southeast Asia. The annular eclipse is visible over the Pacific and Indian oceans, and a partial eclipse is visible from Australia Southeast Asia and Antarctica.

So there's that thinking behind the scenes. Team Lovett Rebecca Jurgens says she's watching the live solar eclipse with her class. And Mark, how and if it is daytime in Australia, why does the telescope look like it's nighttime? So why is it all dark? Why is it black?

Well, yeah, that's interesting. So they are looking. I think it has to do with the filter of the telescope. They're filtering out the light so that they can. I think this is the alpha feed which really focuses on a specific part of the light.

And so you get that heat from the sun because I'm starting to see a prominence appear in the lower left hand corner. So just pass there their little thing that's kind of shooting out the prominence they're that that kind of indicates that that's the wavelength or the type of warmth of light that we're looking at. And so that's why it probably looks dark, because nothing else out there is that warm. But yes, it is. It is daytime in Australia.

So but as there is, the sun's covering up more and more. It will, at least in Exmouth will, will become darker and darker and again experience a full snake for about a minute. Excellent. How you do it? Are we killing you with the questions?

They are coming. They are great questions. All right. I have a really good one from Angel Chinnery. She asks.

Next year, totality will be in Mexico. So I'm assuming it's a total solar eclipse. And she's wondering if you know, how long will totality less than any ideas on that one. So it's around four and a half minutes and there are great resources online that you can find your city and state and find the exact timing for that location. And that's actually another important part of planning.

Your eclipse viewing is to go to those trusted sites and find the list of the times that both the length of totality so that you can enjoy that corona and soak up all of that beautiful solar wind and that and all the magnetic fields that are moving things around and that you'll be safe, that you'll be able to know when you need to put your glasses on and to plan to make sure to be there well ahead of time so that you don't miss it. And will national have resources that kind of help people find places and and that kind of information? Definitely there are there are some resources that will help with things like the map will show you where where there is the path along the path of totality and what's cities and and states will experience totality. And actually the entire contiguous U. S.

will have a partial eclipse that day. So even if you're not part of the line that goes from Mexico to Texas up through Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, now through Maine, and then Nova Scotia in Canada, all those all of those places, you'll get a total solar eclipse. But the entire continental United States will get some type of partial eclipse as well. And then the other the other side of that, on the left hand side is the annular eclipse that will happen in 23. And that is so cool.

And it kind of brings us back to like the heliophysics, the year, like the sun touches everything. And in the U. S. , like that is such a unifying and just a beautiful moment when everybody will get at least some portion of the eclipse. That's really cool.

Before we pop to the next question, we want to think time and date for this amazing feed that we're watching. And we're watching it live. We're watching the magic happen live. I'm so excited. Let's go to a next more 730 on Twitter asks what changes the duration of totality.

So what makes it different? Right? I get it. It's all about geometry. So it's all about where your place in space.

We all belong here. And the place and space does matter. So depending on exactly in the orbit of the earth and the sun and the moon and how they line up is how long you will get totality for. So in this case, how it lines up. And because it's it's at a place where the moon shadow is moving quickly, it only lasts for around a minute.

When you're closer to the equator, it takes a little longer to move across that land. So so it goes a little bit a little bit slower. You can get a little bit longer, longer durations. And then again, it's all about that, that line up between the earth, the moon in the center and the sun. And so as it goes around, it will it will create different, different lengths of time.

It makes sense. Yeah, that's a great explanation. Matt A on YouTube asked about AI safety. So what happens or what could potentially happen if we look directly at an eclipse and look directly at us at the sun. Right.

So looking at directly at the sun, which you should never do, would cause the back of your eye to burn in the image of the sun. And so you would have a blind spot in the area where you had viewed the sun. So it is not advised to do this. So make sure that you have your safety glasses or an indirect viewing method If you don't have safety glasses in order to make sure that you can safely do this and safely see afterwards. Yes, the take away is be safe.

Got it. Got it. Love that. The plastic effect on YouTube and a really good question. So are lunar eclipses or solar eclipses more common?

Is one more common than the other? Oh, that's a good question. Well, I've never thought of that. I know. It's like, oh, you just put that on me because I you know, I've, you know, a lunar eclipse happens when the earth is blocking the sun from the from the moon.

And so that is why you're getting that you're getting that darkness or that eclipse. Is it more common? I think it is. But I my brain is not is not quite sure. Maybe we need some behind the scenes, some sense phone of ed phone.

A friend. I love it. The plastic affect you may have some genetic scientist. Yeah and that just goes to show you like we don't know everything I think it's these are great questions we have Kelly on the spot she doesn't have any of these answers is answering to but you're doing an amazing job, my friend, right? I mean, really, that's what a scientist is.

It's is it's about, you know, figuring figuring out how to do it and finding the right source of information. Right. So it's not necessary that I know every fact in every everything about the sun. It's about I know how to examine the information and say, oh, hey, like this person might know it better or and then is that reasonable? Right?

If they suddenly told me like, well, the moon is made out of, you know, like, no, that's not right. And you have to know. I need to know, you know, approximately what it is. But again, I don't necessarily know everything. Yeah.

And we specialized, right? Like as a scientist, you you're specializing in heliophysics. And then we have people that specialize in planetary science or lunar science. And so it makes sense. I'm just messing with you.

I'm just Josh in with. Yeah, All right. God is asking, why does the moon change locations on screen when we see different time and date telescope feeds? I think that that is just a orientation of the telescope because yeah, it might drift toward one side of the feed, one side of the picture or the other, and that's just alignment of the telescope. It is.

It is. It takes a lot of setup to learn how to do this type of imagery as they're doing amazing time and date and they have done everything for forever. So but it takes a lot to get it to look this good. So that's actually why I tell people your first eclipse, let let the experts do it and just experience it because you can. It's a great hobby to figure out how to, you know, how to do this or you know, how to let it the telescopes and do that.

But it's a lot of work. And so maybe the first one just experience it. Yeah, Yeah. I am looking forward to my first one. No cameras, no anything.

It's just going to be me and watching nature do its thing. I love it. Okay, we have another kind of moon question for you. Iran request on Twitch asks. So there's a lot of talk about the sun during the solar eclipse.

Of course. Are there any unique properties of the moon that are only visible during an eclipse that you know of? That's a that's a good question. The moon is is rocky and not quite as smooth, smooth and kind of you know, it looks like a beautiful ball when it's full from the earth, but it actually is craters and valleys. So peaks and valleys and you can see some of those.

And that's actually what we'll see coming up here with the Bayley's beads is actually the last bits of the fact that it's not perfectly smooth. We're seeing little bits of sunlight still kind of escape until it completely covers the face of the sun. So as you're seeing in the in the feed Right. Or in the image right now is you'll see those little beads and those are actually telling us about the peaks and valleys on the moon, actually. Okay.

So we have a really good question from Heather Jarvis. And the question is, is it happening or almost over and what time is totality? So what? So it is it is happening. So we have most of the most of the disk covered right now.

And so the upper left is the moon. That dark circle or semicircle is cutting out the little crescent sun that we're seeing and the prominence is still there on the on the left hand side. And so what is happening and we're I think we're around 10 minutes, I think from now, 15 minutes from totality. And so then we'll see those Bayley beads that we just talked about. Diamond Ring is the last one that that comes out because it looks like there's a great big diamond on the on the sun and then that'll go off and then we will see totality And that's that's where we would take off our eclipse glasses if we were there and kind of bask in the seeing the corona and experiencing the whole thing.

And then after that minutes over, we would put on our glasses and we will then go backwards and see the diamond ring. The veil is beads and then back to this partial eclipse. So you kind of talked about this before because on YouTube is asking, is it possible to never have an eclipse during the year since we happened about every 18 months, it would be possible to not have one during the year? Yeah, and I'm assuming that just met solar eclipses that Cas was asking about. All right.

Very heavy on YouTube. Asks, Is it possible to see the eclipse using a telescope from home? That's a good question. So really there is you need to be in the path of totality or a path, a partial path of the eclipse in general. So either a partial eclipse or a total eclipse.

So it somewhat depends on where you live. Again, if you're in the US, you will see one in 2024 or 2023. So hopefully yes. And then if somewhere else we can find resources online to see where in the next eclipse eclipse is going to be in your area. Actually, our folks working in the background, you guys are genius is so for the question, asking if lunar or solar eclipses are more common, we have a little bit more information for you.

Lunar eclipses and solar eclipses are about equally common. They usually happen in pairs. So a lunar eclipse will usually happen two weeks before or two weeks after a solar eclipse. However, more of the earth will be able to see a total lunar eclipse than a total solar eclipse. So they may see more, may seem more in one given location.

So no dates for that. Yeah, that's great, because I think that what I was thinking is it's more common to be like, Oh yeah, you can see a lunar eclipse. Then a solar eclipse is a much more narrow path because limits are smaller. Yes. Okay, great.

That's funny. Yeah, that was a really good answer. Thanks for the clarity on that. Willie D on YouTube asks What kind of gravitational pull does this kind of event due to the life on earth with slash, with celestial body alignment are there animals and plants that react to this event? Thanks.

Okay. Well, that's great. So animals and plants do respond to this event in general. Again, from what I understand is much more from actual visual or sensory of the darkness that they sense rather than maybe direct gravitational pull, but maybe that's a study that you should propose that what's what's the effect on on animals for gravity? I think it's my you know, my sense is that it's more from a visual sense than a than a gravitational sense that there's an effect on animals.

Gotcha. Okay. That makes sense. Susan Starker asked, Do solar flares interfere with technology here on Earth? And is there cause for concern?

That's a really good one. That's a really good question. And yes, solar flares do potentially cause issues with our technology here on Earth and all of our space assets and so we are we at NASA's wells in partnership with with many different folks in commercial as well as within the government know it. ESA, NSF, all the other folks are working on this. It's a term called space weather as the effect that the sun has on the earth and the entire environment, the entire interplanetary environment.

So we are looking to mitigate those things, things like potential power outages or inducing huge currents in the earth, things like that. We are looking into that and and making sure that those solar flares don't don't get the best of our technology. Yeah, and that's a big part of the heliophysics this year. Right. So like at NASA, the HELIOPHYSICS has a fleet of missions that are working to study the phenomena of space, weather and the sun's impacts, you know, throughout our universe particularly.

Do you want to talk a little bit about Parker Solar Probe, which has touched the sun? Yes, the Parker Solar probe, a little near and dear to my heart is the spacecraft that has gone in and actually touched this corona that we had seen. And it is a spacecraft that goes in and looks at the particles coming off of the earth of the sun, both through imaging as well as scooping some up in some of the detectors and studying the magnetic fields of the sun. So that mission has successfully touched to that corona and is continue ing to study it and to again, help us understand that space weather. Excellent.

Yeah. Looking at this, we're getting closer. We're getting closer. It's happening. I know it looks like a great big smile, this great big smile right now.

And so it's kind of smiling. Okay, back to the question. So we have two related questions. David Grant, you asked, what is the expected temperature drop during a total solar eclipse? And Raymond Dumais on YouTube is asking is there a measurable temperature drops?

So are people going to be able to feel a difference? You you can definitely feel a difference. It can be a couple of degrees to tens of degrees. So like I for instance, my last solar eclipse, I had to put on a down jacket, was in a short sleeved polo and had to put on a down jacket. I'm also cold, so but it was definitely noticeable that folks were putting on jackets.

And so it is a measurable temperature and that is part of a citizen science project, is to actually measure the temperature as you're going as this is going along, especially with animal reactions, is to figure out what what they're actually reacting to. Here's a really good one, kind of based on something you said earlier. Forest What voice? Walker 111 on YouTube. Asked if a flare were to happen right now, would it be visible?

Could we would we be able to see it during this some during the eclipse we're watching. So if we were to be able to see a visible light flare when the eclipse was happening, that would be a big event of it. So that would that would be related to. So, for instance, one of the most powerful, the most powerful events that we kind of have recorded is the 1859 Carrington event where telephone telegraph lines at the Times caught on fire and were able to work without batteries for days based on the energy that was imparted that flare to the earth. If we were to see some, see an actual flare in the visible light, that is what they were seeing associated with that as well.

So that's a big storm. So it would be super cool. Yet at the same time it would be very interesting to see what would go on. Most of the flares we look at right now are done in the extreme ultraviolet, and that is how we we normally see them, which is unfortunately something we can't see our own eyes. So one thing you've mentioned a couple of times and people are asking questions about it is a prominent so what is a promise is that a flare that we are seeing on the left side of the sun or what is what is a prominence?

What are we seeing? Good question. Yeah. So a prominence is a protrusion of some of the gas of the sun along a magnetic field line. So the sun is a magnetic star.

And the background image you're actually seeing has kind of those twisty magnetic fields and the, the gas or the plasma following those and that sort of prominences. It's a sticking out of one of those magnetic fields. And then the gas and plasma sticking with it, sticking with that magnetic field line and protruding. And so it can be a precursor to a flare. It could be a it could be part of a coronal mass ejection.

It could be ejected from the sun as a as a mass that comes through through the solar system. It's equivalent to 80 million school busses in mass hurtling at us at a million miles an hour when a coronal mass ejection goes off in a prominent can be part of that. So that's why it's just interesting it is an active part and there were some active regions rotating off the disk and I think it was just about that area. So I was I was interested to see what we would see once we got to totality. And we're getting close.

We're getting really close now. I know. So. All right. Sure.

I'm on Twitter asked, are we able to see sunspots during a solar eclipse? We are actually able to see sunspots most days. So which is which is great. So when the sun leaves, leaves again or sorry, when the moon leaves again and we can see the sun, we there were some darker features on the sun, little, little spots. And so you are able to see sunspots in the visible light.

And even with your eclipse glasses, you should be able to see go out and see when there are large sunspots on the on the sun. Okay, we've got another question on safety 330 on Twitter. Ask, is there any part during an eclipse that is safe to directly look at the sun without license? Yes. And we are almost there.

So when that moon is totally covering the disk of the sun, it is safe to take off your glasses and to see the the solar corona. Now, again, we have to really make sure that we're on the path and we know that there is totality and that we can't see anything. And one good test is if you have your glasses on and you're looking at the sun and there is nothing coming through those glasses, that is when you can take it, then you can take it off if you see the little light in that glasses, because they're really dark, you're not going to see your eye can see normal lights, but you will see the sun through them. But when you don't, that's that's a sign that you can't take off your glasses. We're close.

Let's listen to another. And Gabrielle Cadena on YouTube asks, Is it possible to encounter any clips and northern lights at the same time? Oh, that would be a really great thing to do. So yeah, so we would just need to have an eclipse over. You normally see Aurora in the northern or most southern latitude latitudes, northern or southern lights.

So if we were to have an eclipse that passed through, say, Alaska or Greenland or Iceland, you might be able to catch both the eclipse and the Aurora close. All right. Let's see if we can squeeze another one. And this is a really good one. James McCoy on Twitter is asking about how we discovered 80 planets.

That experience total eclipses or eclipses like Earth does. He? It feels pretty rare. It does. And actually, I my my colleague Michael said this the other day that realized that this is the only place in the solar system that this happens.

Like, how special is that that we get to, that we get to be here and have a moon that blocks out the sun? That's not so. That's something that's done every day or place else that we know of. So so this is very, very amazing. And we do use Eclipse like things to measure, to actually find exoplanets or other planets around other stars, because as they pass by, they weaken the the light from the star.

And we use that to actually sense that they're there. So we use an eclipse like scenario, but we don't know of of really any other eclipses. Interesting. All right. So it looks like we're getting like really close to totality.

So let's take a quick look at the feeds coming in from Australia. Kelly, do you want to tell us what we're looking at and kind of talk us through that through the lens? Definitely. So we're we're getting really close. So the a dark upper left hand side, you see the moon and then that little sliver is still the sun and then the prominence again that, that little stick out magnetic field and plasma is at the left.

It looks like a little jet maybe coming off of the sun. And as we're getting closer again, we're trying to see those Bailey's beads, which tells us a little bit of of the surface of the moon and how it's peaks and valleys. It's not a perfect, polished sphere. It's it has a history. And and we're going to see that shown through the as shown through the Bailey's beads.

And then eventually just go to one diamond ring and then we will go into totality. So again, we're getting real close about 2 minutes. Wow. And you can still see the prominence. You can see the prominence more and more.

And I'm actually seeing a little bit of something also almost directly across from it. There's a kind of a band of activity that that happens as these things form. And so it's kind of in that same band. So I think of it as almost directly horizontal, but we'll see as as we get closer if that comes out at all and can see a little bit better. Now we're really getting dark.

And so if we're in Australia, it's probably again dropped in temperature a little on that beach that we saw. Henry Henry was that and again, any animals might to start to think that it's nighttime, the air or the light will actually get really kind of it just feels eerie and it's it's like your your brain knows that something's just not quite right Like, I'm not sure about this, you know, where did the sun go and why is it in kind of a different color? And it's getting really, really close and and it's it's exciting to to experience this live with you all. Yeah. And we're still glasses on right?

We are still glasses on. At this point in time. You will still be able and you get that. And so we're almost there. Oh, and now it has gone dark.

Oh, that's still too bright. We probably should still have our glasses on. But those are the Bailey's beads. And we are going toward those beads. Diamond ring.

And there we go. There is your total solar eclipse. So glasses off at this point in time experiencing this beautiful corona. So that prominence is out there. You see that.

You also see on the other side, almost like helmets or triangular shaped flows. So the solar wind is flowing out. And so we're really witnessing that corona there as they adjust adjust things. Wow. There's just all sorts of structure.

So it's not a simple thing, right? It's a very complicated dynamic, always churning, always moving, always evolving. And you see so much structure out. And this is what hopefully that Kyte is is recording right now is all of these different prominences. And you see loops sometimes and and then again things that look like they flew out of the out of the picture.

That's the solar wind and that's what connects with our planet. And now we're actually getting the Bailey's beads back. So this would be glasses on again. It was a very short but amazing experience. And again, we're we're going to have around four and a half minutes in places in the US in 2024.

But that was beautiful. So yeah, So the Bailey's beads are coming back. We're coming back now into what is more of the more beads coming back and you can still see a little bit of the corona. But again, we would have our glasses on at this point in time because this is the safest, the safe, this or or your glasses are the safest way to view the solar eclipse. Wow.

This is just phenomenal. Absolutely it is. It is. I mean, wow. How many places have you seen?

So I haven't seen two totally eclipses in person. Wow. This. Yeah. And each one is this is magical and there is just something about experiencing it that is surreal.

Oh, wow. Yeah. So there is the prominence and all of the other type of mass that's just kind of hanging out there and and playing on the loops, the magnetic loops of the sun and. Yeah, beautiful. That is absolutely phenomenal.

Yes. And this activity kind of picks up as we go towards solar max. And so with predictions right now, solar Max is somewhere between 2024 and 2025. So we could have a very active and really structured and a lot of different things on the Sun as we have our total eclipse in 24 and our annular eclipse in 23. So can you talk us through that a little bit?

So you're talking about solar, Max. So the sun has cycles and solar cycles. What's the difference? And what is the little max need? And yes, yeah.

So the sun sun has cycles in its magnetic energy. What happens is basically the magnetic fields get twisted, twisted, twisted, twisted. And then suddenly they they have to just break and relax. And so the minimum is when they're relaxed and the maximum is as they are getting more and more twisted and more energy to, to blow off the steam through curl mass ejections. Those, again, 80 million school busses racing towards us and millions of miles an hour where the solar flares or the energetic particles of the sun gives off.

And so this cycle that going from that really relaxed magnetic field to really tense takes 11 years to complete. So you end up going around 5 to 6 years to a to a maximum and then back to a minimum and back to a maximum again. And we're headed towards a maximum in 2025, 20, 24, 2025. And so that's again, we're going to have a lot more activity or flares, more coronal mass ejections. And those energetic particles.

Well, okay, so let's keep watching as we take a few more questions. Here's a really good one. Erin Pulido on YouTube. Asked What useful data does NASA's get and what did they do with it from from observing eclipses? That's a great question.

And we take all sorts of different data during eclipses. There will be an announcement soon of things that we're specifically doing for the 24. But for instance, for the kite that is flying in Australia today, there will be a spectrometer. So there'll be there'll be data from that and that will all have to go into an archive for NASA and to make sure that's open and available to to folks. So any of the things, any of the data that is collected from, from minus the source will then be available to use for anyone shortly after it is collected.

Oh, wow. Okay. And I've heard that eclipses provide kind of like a perfect scientific environment for taking measurements. If we're trying to do certain types of measurements. Why is that?

It it is a really great environment in terms of we don't normally get to turn off the sun on things regularly. A We don't get to snap our fingers and just turn night today or day to night. So for instance, in 23 and 24, we will launch rockets into the eclipse and be able to study. Are I ionosphere, which is a layer of our atmosphere where a lot of our communication signals go through. And if that gets disturbed from a day to night transition, we get to be able to study it very easily during an eclipse because that's again like a very specific time where we know what's going to happen and we know it's and we can study those effects.

And and that's a, you know, a very known time to do these things. So it's great to have as a as an experimental laboratory for us. Yeah, that's so cool. And I love that. Like, we don't get to turn off the sun.

That is so true. Okay, so An Arctic flu. I need to ask, once totality has happened, how long will it take for the sun in the moon to be back to their normal and everything? Air position? Right.

So this will take about another hour or two to move the moon of the sun or the what will what will then be to look like two separate things again. Okay. Road called Life on Twitter is asking, does totality last longer in the middle of the path of totality, then along the edge of the path of totality? Or is it the same of it same everywhere. So like, how does that work?

How does this. That's a great way to get it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so in the very middle of the middle of the track is where it will be longest and then it will be shortest on the outside of the track. So we, we're looking at the map earlier, the very center is where you're going to get the longest totality, the very center line and then as it goes out of you will get kind of less and less time in totality.

And then once you're out of the track completely, that's when you get a partial eclipse, like a 90% or 90% eclipse. Excellent. Well, Kelly, that's all the time we have. Thank you so much for joining us today. My pleasure.

Any time. I'll watch the total eclipse anytime with you, Denise. It's a date. All right. You can keep watching the remainder of the solar eclipse right here on national TV or wherever you're watching the stream from today.

If you want to learn more about eclipses, visit solar system, nasa. gov, slash eclipses. And you can also follow NASA's sun on Facebook and Twitter to stay updated on the upcoming eclipse events and the latest from science. Thank you all so much for joining us. See You next time.

The heliophysics big year is a global celebration of solar science and the sun's influence on earth and throughout the solar system. And we want you to be a part of it. We challenge you to participate in as many sun science activities as possible, beginning with the annular eclipse 2023 and ending with Parker Solar Probes closest approach to the Sun in December 2024. Space is increasingly part the human domain. By studying the sun's influence in space and its interactions with planets, we learn how to better protect astronauts and robotic missions from space weather and to develop technology that protects the very infrastructure we rely on here on earth, such as power grids and GPS signals.

NASA's Heliophysics division studies the Sun's influence on everything in our solar system from the very core of the sun to the very edge where the sun's atmosphere interstellar space. We have 20 heliophysics missions that are operational and 14 more under development. The heliophysics big year will highlight work that we're doing to understand our star and to mitigate the effects of space weather. The big year is a concept that originated with citizen scientists in the bird watching community during their big year, but is attempt to observe and study as many species as possible during a calendar year. And we are challenging you to do the same with our sun during the Heliophysics big year you will have the opportunity to participate in many solar science events like watching solar eclipses, experiencing an aurora, participating in citizen science projects and lots of other fun sun related activities.

So please be sure to look out for opportunities to be part of our Heliophysics Big year.

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