hello ever hi everyone and welcome to
this momentous day it is the great
American Eclipse day and we’re here with
National Geographic and Airbnb on this
live stream on facebook youtube and
periscope my name is Cara Santa Maria
and I am a science communicator I’m here
to help communicate some of the science
behind what’s going on but even more
interestingly I am here with a NASA
astronaut tell them but yourself well my
name is Terry Virts I’m a former NASA
astronaut and National Geographic author
I’m so excited to be here it’s amazing I
am thrilled okay so today is Eclipse day
across all of the continental United
States and we have some really fun stuff
going on this is going to meet my
conduit to you guys at home I’ll be able
to answer all of your questions and you
send in I know we’re gonna be a little
overwhelmed with them I’ll be able to go
through and and see what you guys have
to say and we’ll be able to read some of
that stuff on air now I do want to point
out that there is a big difference
between a total eclipse and a partial
eclipse we are in the path of totality
yeah this is amazing we’re right almost
in the middle of that path of totality
as the moon goes around the earth it
casts a shadow and the shadow is pretty
small it’s only about 40-plus miles
across and when you have a total eclipse
that shadow goes right across the
Earth’s surface and that’s where we’re
going to be in just a matter of minutes
yeah I am thrilled we’re here in
Terrebonne Oregon and right now we are
in the phase of the Eclipse between what
they call first and second contact we’re
actually already in a partial eclipse
and we have a live feed of that you guys
can see what’s going on this the moon is
already covering much of the Sun there
and you can even see sunspots through
this life tomatoe incredible is that all
right but I do want to talk about why
we’re here in this beautiful location
which feels like it’s the middle of
nowhere it’s in the middle of nature you
can see that there’s this geodesic dome
behind us and this was a special prize
for two very lucky
Airbnb customers so they got to spend
the night in this geodesic dome and then
today they got to fly with
a natural photographer and with an
astronomer to chase the Eclipse so first
they’re in a helicopter and then they’re
going to be in an airplane where they
get to follow the Eclipse jealous yes so
freaking jealous right and you can see
them here how exciting oh my gosh
such excited winners I can only imagine
what it would have been like oh I wish I
had slept your life what an amazing
place out in the high desert yeah the
stars must have been incredible I’m
beautiful but I gotta be honest I stayed
in a pretty dope it was pretty so I’d
love to check in with Jude Ida Eisler
dr. Josiah Eisler who is the astronomer
who went up in the plane with them and
Bob back to freshy who is the NatGeo
photographer let’s see what they have to
say hey y’all it’s dr. today to Eisler
I’m an observational astrophysicist and
a lover of the night sky I’m so excited
about what’s gonna happen fall backs a
fishy I’m a night sky photographer
working with National Geographic and the
founder of the world at night program so
the whole life I was involved with night
sky and a fan of astronomy so it’s
almost like we’re doing the coolest
thing one could do if one we’re going to
watch sa once-in-a-lifetime solar
eclipse we’re going 35,000 feet in the
air to watch the Eclipse yeah it’s a
private jet are you excited yeah that’s
the best place I think to see the coming
shadow I’m going shadow and it’s much
faster than our plane almost six times
faster yeah it is yeah there’s no way
we’re gonna keep up with it so all of
those those of you are excited for us
we’re excited too but we’re not gonna be
able to go with the shadow it will pass
us very quickly but we’ll still get a
very unique vantage point that we’re
really excited yeah I think we get 15 to
20 seconds more to talk by being the on
the plane using the shadow so it’s
slightly more than the ground but the
main benefit I think it’s just to be
among the first people to see it
probably less than 10 minutes before the
others on the Lincoln beach I love it I
love it yeah I think that’s true right
getting to see it early is always fun I
would watch it at any time but if
why should a 35,000 feet I will every
eclipse is different depending on the
ambient environment that we were seeing
it could be with some clouds reflection
of the clouds colors in the clouds it
could be the shadow coming in could be
people and their emotional reaction so
I’m going to include many of those in
the opportunity we are going to have on
the plane
we have guests and probably it’s their
first total solar eclipse so I’m going
to capture those emotions as well as
close-up of Eclipse as I said you know
there’s streamers coming out of the
solar corona are better visible from our
office here but my main aim would be to
capture this shadow coming especially
when you’re up in the air you see the
cone of the shadow much more clear than
being on the ground so all these
together I think it will be a very
diverse total solar eclipse for me so
the next time you see us we’ll be 35,000
feet up looking directly near the Sun
with our protective glasses on we hope
wherever you are you get a chance to
watch it or experience it in some way
it’ll be fun
see you soon oh my gosh so so excited
I’m really jealous they will have
bragging rights they will absolutely
have bragging rights
okay so let’s recap a little bit of what
they mentioned during a solar eclipse
it’s really quite a simple concept it’s
that the moon is in front of the Sun we
happen to be in that path which is
there’s a fun word for this it’s called
sisig II this is gee I always say syzygy
and that’s when the planetary bodies
align so perfectly and most of America
is actually in what they call the
penumbral shadow which is the almost
umbral shadow the large shadow that’s
cast out and that happens during a
partial eclipse most of America is in a
partial eclipse right there’s a skinny
line you said earlier 40 plus miles
across that is the totality line where
you’ll be able to see the Sun or the Sun
be completely blocked by the moon that’s
right now these different phases require
different types of protection so maybe
we should do it a quick thing they do
we’ll do a demonstration
don’t do this unless you have some
approved glasses on but I’m gonna
actually look at the Sun with the
approved glasses and you can see it’s
amazing you can see the moon has taken a
significant bite out of the Sun right I
have to just point out real quick that
my safety glasses are a little yes I’m
losing all the bragging rights here and
we should mention that they need to be
ISO certified glasses there are some
fakes out there which is a huge bummer
why would somebody do that these are not
these are not normal sunglasses yeah
yeah yeah so and also when you’re in a
partial eclipse it doesn’t make the Sun
any worse it’s not more dangerous than
it is on any day but on a normal day
you’re not gonna stare at the Sun and
when there’s an eclipse you’re
interested to see what’s going on up
there that’s why it’s more dangerous
it’s just the likelihood of you actually
staring at the Sun absolutely and the
closer and closer that we get to
totality so if we look at our live
stream right now of the Sun you’ll see
that it’s a big bite has been taken out
the moon is really covering a bunch of
the Sun but as it gets closer and closer
to the Sun being a sliver it might not
feel as much to your eyes right like it
hurts if you try to look at it it might
not feel as bad and that’s when it’s the
most dangerous because you won’t have
that natural inkling to squint and you
should never look at the Sun this is way
too bright it will damage your eyes so
even if it’s ninety percent covered
exactly even if it’s mostly covered if
or something covered you cannot look at
it without eye protection you want these
iso certified glasses there are also
some cool toys out there and maybe you
already have them might be too late to
get them if you like I have a pair of
solar safe binoculars so I can actually
turn up and look directly at the Sun oh
my gosh and I can see sunspots I’m
freaking out right now you guys I’m
gonna be doing this quite a bit
throughout this stream because I can’t
get enough of it I can look directly at
the Sun with my binoculars
Terry’s doing some incredible
photography right now that’s right but I
have a specialist solar filter on the
front so you do not want to look through
a normal camera at the Sun because that
will be even worse than looking at the
Sun I’ll be like a magnifying glass
focusing those dangerous doing that with
a magnifying yes we did so you don’t
want to do that on your eyeball no apps
and if you happen to be in that narrow
band of totality once the Sun is
completely blocked and the moon is
covering it up then you can take your
glasses off and it’ll be safe for a
minute or two minutes however long
you’re in the path for but until then
you have to have the protection yeah and
so look it up make sure you’re in
totality and you’ll know I mean it’s a
very specific look being in totality but
that’s the time when you can actually
remove your eye protection you can look
straight at the Sun because the Sun is
completely blocked by the moon and all
you can see is that faint Corona and the
truth is if you try to look at the Sun
with your protection because these are
so dark during totality you actually
won’t be able to see any brain that’s
the moment it’s when the Sun sets in the
middle of the day this is what I think a
lot of people don’t realize in type 2 in
totality it’s going to get dark it’ll be
dark it’ll be cooler the temperature
will drop yeah oh my gosh I am so
excited okay so you have never you know
the last solar eclipses in 1979 here in
the United States and so I’ve never
experienced it I was born in 1983
have you experienced from the ground
here on earth a solar I have not this is
my first one but a little birdie told me
that you have seen them from space so
that was a really amazing opportunity
when I was on the space station two
years ago there was an eclipse over the
North Atlantic and as we were flying
over it was really far in the distance
it was more than a thousand miles away
but you could see actually the shadow of
the moon on the earth and if you look at
this picture there’s a solar array from
the Russian progress spaceship there so
underneath that bright white rectangle
you can see the dark spot and that is
actually the moon’s shadow and it was so
amazing to be in space looking at my
planet Earth in the distance and seeing
the shadow from another heavenly body it
was it was it was truly a surreal moment
home base can only imagine and of course
you’ve taken how many photos from space
I took over three hundred thousand how
is it that you don’t have a coffee table
book for my enjoyment well funny you
should ask
actually I have a book called view from
above it’s a National Geographic book
okay and it comes out this October so
it’s a
combination of some of the best of the
not all 300,000 pictures but 300 of the
best and also stories from space what it
was like to be there for launch and
landing what it was like to be there
during some emergencies that we had so
it’s a combination of stories and photos
that kind of take a space mission and
put it in book format so you said it
comes out in October October 3rd just in
time for my birthday you know just
saying October 19th and the reason it’s
an easy thing to remember for me
totality right where we are
starts at 10:19 this morning which is my
birthday and right now I’m just gonna
check it is 1042 so we’re getting really
really close to totality can you believe
it another 942 40 minutes or so another
40 minutes or so and I’m gonna be doing
a countdown I have a great app on my
phone that gives me a perfect countdown
to totality so we’ll be doing a nice
countdown I know that Terry’s gonna try
and get some good astrophotography
what’d you call this astrophotography
it’s like solar photography yeah there’s
probably a special name for it exactly
so he’s gonna try and get some really
cool photography while it happens I
think I’m just gonna appreciate it but
we will work on that countdown so I want
to maybe take a question from the
audience here
you guys at home of course keep sending
in your questions or comments because
we’re gonna be able to check in with you
throughout the stream and remember you
can do that at national Geographics
Facebook page or you can do it by using
the hashtag NatGeo eclipse and I’ve been
using it so you should use it too all
right so we have one here from Brenda
Troyer harness and she asks what effect
if any will the Eclipse have on Earth’s
tides oh my gosh that’s a great question
but you know what here’s the thing the
moon is in this fluky position anyway
right so it’s a normal day for the moon
and it’s a normal day for the Sun but
there are some numbers that we should
know right that’s true
the earth is let’s see if I get this
right you fact-check me here the earth
is four times larger than the moon right
the Sun is a hundred times larger than
the earth correct so the Sun is actually
400 times larger than the moon right but
the moon is 400 times closer right yeah
than the Sun which means if the Sun 400
times farther away but the moon is 400
times closer to the Sun in this super
fluky coincidence the moon looks like
it’s the same size as the Sun and
completely blocks it it does for now for
now but soon in another 600 million
years the moon actually moves away from
the earth a few inches a year no it does
couple inches that’s amazing so in 600
million years it’ll be so far from the
earth that we won’t be any more eclipses
so it’s good to watch the Eclipse like
so can ya so when we say
once-in-a-lifetime but really it is in
many ways there’s in a lifetime eclipses
are quite common there’s about two a
year they’re usually partial there’s one
total solar eclipse what is it about
like every three or four or five years
every year – yeah yeah it does happen
but the problem is it’s usually over the
ocean right it’s not where you are right
and it’s not usually in your country so
the same eclipse like this Eclipse
that’s happening today or I shouldn’t
say the same Eclipse that gets confusing
and Eclipse passing over the same GPS
coordinate right only happens like every
75 no 375 hours which means if you never
move like if you don’t have the capacity
to travel to see an eclipse this is it
this really is a what’s in a life we do
have another total solar eclipse coming
to the United States and 2024 so that’s
just in what is that seven years a few
more years oh my gosh and it’s gonna
pass over where I grew up in Dallas
Texas cool that’s right I’ll be in Texas
right oh really oh yeah you live in
Houston astronaut so we do have another
opportunity if you’re missing it today
and also maybe we should talk a little
bit about the different ways that you
can look at any clips because right most
of you watching on the stream are
probably not in the US or if you are in
the u.s. you’re not in the path of
totality so you’re seeing a partial
eclipse it’s a very special thing to be
within that path of totality I think you
were telling me earlier one in a
thousand people yeah the I’ve seen the
statistics less than one in a thousand
humans ever get to see a total eclipse
so you’re pretty lucky if you do and
even if you’re in the path of totality
it
it’s cloudy you’re gonna miss it that’s
true some clouds in parts of the country
yeah so hopefully they’ll be able to
enjoy it here on the stream because we
have this wonderful telescope that’s
really powerful with a solar filter
trained on it so you can see it’s so
crazy that you can see sunspots but also
the moon is occluding it and something
that I noticed when I talked to a lot of
people who have seen total solar
eclipses is that you don’t really you
can’t tell that it’s the moon during the
day right because the Sun is so bright
that the moon
Terri’s taking some photos doing this
throughout that the moon it really looks
like this dark disk almost like a hole
in the sky and as the moon actually
covers it up sometimes people get scared
they actually feel like the sky has
ripped open and there’s this hole that’s
coming at them it’s it’s a very visceral
experience I have no idea what I’m gonna
do I might cry I might cry I might
scream I might be afraid and also did
you know that animals act super weird
during they do yeah they don’t know
what’s happening it’s nighttime all of a
sudden and so I was reading up on this
dogs can sometimes get really scared
you’ll hear that birds will roost
they’ll actually go to bed for the night
roosters will cockadoodledoo when the
Sun comes back out because they’re like
what it’s happening but two things that
I found super fascinating apparently
cows don’t notice they just don’t seem
to have a reaction and they found it out
yeah they found this out by doing a lot
of cool citizen science during the
nineteen I think there was an eclipse in
like the 1930s and scientists asked
people to watch their animals and take
notes and write in and tell them what
happened and cows don’t seem to notice
chimpanzees our closest cousins will
look up and actually see what’s happened
in awe without glasses though that’s the
problem
protection that’s right we need to get
the chimps so we do solar glasses we
need to start a new a new nonprofit for
that so crazy animals are gonna act
strange I think people are gonna act
strange you know we’re here in Central
Oregon where there’s a lot of Eclipse
parties going on nearby and Madras
there’s a big tent city basically
happening where a lot of people are
watching
and there’s probably a lot of kind of
discord outside during the Eclipse
because when you’re in close proximity
to a lot of people and you have these
sort of visceral reactions I can’t
imagine the interesting noises people
are gonna make my friend fellow
astronaut Don Pettit is in Salem which
is on the west coast of Oregon and the
Oregon Science Museum is doing an event
with 9,000 people so he’s going to be
helping to host that but we were talking
last night about how he’s gonna film it
and he wants to film it with the noise
so he can hear people’s gasps and
reactions yes okay so I just realized
you that Brenda I didn’t we didn’t fully
answer your question what effect if any
will the Eclipse have on Earth’s tides I
would say don’t quote us on this because
neither but I don’t think it’s going to
have an effect it’s it’s basically a
visual fluke with rooms in the same
position it would be in anyway oh maybe
we can talk a little bit about the
cycles so we mentioned 375 years and
eclipses will pass over the same spot
right although there is a an x marks the
spot place on the map I can’t remember
where it is but if you live in this one
town you actually get to experience both
total oh cool and so let’s talk a little
bit about the soro cycles that’s right
we’re cool what is it every 18 years
every 18 years yeah the clips repeats
itself from a orbital mechanics point of
view and that leads to another question
I’m sure we’re gonna get lots of these
why isn’t there an eclipse every month
because every month the moon goes around
the earth and gets between the Earth and
the Sun yeah but the shadow is so small
so there’s always the moon shadow moon
shadow is somewhere in space all the
time 24/7 but the moon’s orbit is not in
a perfectly aligned plane with the
Earth’s orbit so every month the moon is
near the Sun but it’s usually just a
little bit off above it or below it and
klipse passes just over heads yeah but
we do have like we said a couple of year
like eclipses are actually much more
common than this way they’re just not
common where people all right and
they’re especially not common where
people are over and over and over again
which is why for many people this really
is a once-in-a-lifetime right expiry
and this is amazing because everybody in
America not the continental US yes but
even Hawaii and Alaska are gonna be able
to see at least a partial eclipse which
which is great because it kind of brings
us together I know you know sometimes
you know whatever your politics are
whatever is going on in your life and
there are divisions and there’s
difficulty but when we get to see an
event like this you know something that
really reminds you of how small we are
on the planet how we really share this
planet together and these cosmic
phenomena are not concerned with us
that’s right they have been regardless
it really ties us together
I feel tied together with you I feel
tied together with everybody across the
u.s. everybody across the world who’s
watching this stream right now the
animals all of nature around us we all
get to experience this together yeah
it’s really amazing and you know the
last few months there’s been a lot of
issues going on and this is something
that we can all share and it can be a
positive thing the space station is like
that when I was in space I was with
Russian cosmonauts in an Italian and
Americans and we got along great and we
became great friends still to this day
even though things were happening on
earth you can use these things to kind
of bring you together and I think that
may be the best thing the physics are
interesting the experience is
interesting but hopefully you know
bringing folks together it will be the
most important thing that happens
absolutely and people are getting
together all over the country right now
to celebrate we actually have a photo
here of some National Geographic staff
in Tennessee who are getting ready oh
look at their t-shirts I love it we’re
getting ready for the Eclipse and of
course we are on the early end of this
we are in Oregon and the path of
totality is moving west to east so in
many ways we’re some of the first people
who get to experience this we are very
lucky and my friend and on the TV in
Baltimore Fox 45 the meteorologists sent
me the map and so on the west coast it’s
great and in Tennessee it’s great
weather but in the middle of the country
there may be some clouds and in South
Carolina there may be some it’ll still
get dark out but you won’t be able to
necessarily see the the moon covering up
the Sun and that’s when I say luckily in
2024 again but okay I want to take
another question I think so let’s we’ve
answered this one
see what else we’ve got okay we’ve got
one here from Kathy Evelyn and she says
oh we mentioned this but I think we
really should reheat this would it be
safe to point my phone camera at the
Eclipse and watch it on my screen it
seems like it would be a good hack right
well I don’t have to look directly at it
if I drag it my screen but if you’re
looking at a computer screen that’s safe
but if your eyes are pointed in the
direction of the Sun that might not be
good and it might not be good to keep
your phone pointed at the Sun for a long
period of time you can take pictures of
the Sun that’s fine
but if you just leave it right but if
you’re taking a video like for a long
period of time that might fry your
electronics or melt the camera
especially if you have you know a
telescope or a zoom lens like this or
even binoculars like again I got to
point out these are solar safe I don’t
know if you can see that but these are
solar safe binoculars you can’t it’s too
bright which means that they have this
super dark lens over the orange that’s
cutting out all the radiation that could
be damaging to our eyes and I think
another point that we should mention
what you don’t want to do if you got a
solar filter and you’re really excited
to be able to use that solar filter you
don’t put it between your eye and the
lens that’s closed so you have to put it
between the lens farthest away from you
because this lens is magnifying the
sun’s ray that’s right and it could it
could tear a hole right in your filter
if you put it close to your eye or it
you know it could let some of this
harmful UV rays in yep so the truth is
all of these that the telescope that you
see that’s pointing at the Sun right now
let’s look at that picture again because
it just blows my mind every time that
hello my gosh that’s the Sun you guys
that’s not the moon that is the Sun that
telescope has a giant solar filter on
the large part of the telescope the big
the big lens that’s towards the end and
that’s what’s protecting us and Terry’s
camera that he’s taking photos with
right now
it has a big solar filter on the other
side of the camera try to the front
effingham yeah so we’ve just got to be
really really careful not to hurt our
eyes first that’s more important and
maybe not to destroy all of our fans all
right I want to see if there’s another
okay here’s one from Jessica Aguilar she
asks can you turn your back to the
Eclipse and put a mirror in front of you
like you were going to take a selfie and
in the mirror well a mirror would
actually just reflect that that’s the
way a lot of telescopes works with
mirror Sameer will be dangerous if you
watched a reflection maybe in glass that
would be one thing or you could do a
pinhole camera this is really cool so
let’s maybe we can talk through we don’t
have the supplies here but we can talk
through it if you wanted to make a
pinhole camera it’s really really easy
right you need a box a box a cardboard
or sorry a cereal box is actually really
because it’s right side and so what
you’re gonna do is you’re increase your
box yes you need a screwdriver foil is
helpful and a pair of scissors and also
some white paper because I think this is
the important part
so you’ll trace the bottom of the cereal
box on a piece of white paper and you’ll
cut out a sliver that’s the same size as
the bottom of the cereal box and you’ll
stuff that down inside also you should
empty the cereal so that so the paper
the white paper is gonna be what you’re
looking at you need that nice reflective
surface but it’s not a mirror that’s you
reflective and then you’re gonna cut two
holes in either side of the top of the
cereal box you’ll cover one of those
holes with foil but you leave the other
one open the other one is your
viewfinder you look through it the one
that you cover foil that’s when the a
screwdriver and or pin right hence
pinhole camera poke a small hole in it
poke that hole that’s gonna collect the
sunlight it’s going to actually reflect
the the image of the clips down on the
white paper below and you can see it
right looking through that viewfinder so
what you’ll see what we’re seeing here
through the telescope which is a true
image you’ll see a perfect reflection of
that in your pinhole camera so worry not
if you do not have Eclipse glasses you
still get to experience they can team
moon is winning right now team moon is
yeah gaming is losing so totality is
getting closer and closer to where we
are right now I’m just gonna open up my
app so first contact started at 9:06
that’s Pacific time right here in Oregon
it started at 906 it’s currently 956 so
we have been first contact maybe we
should explain that because we use those
terms a lot first their fourth contact
that’s right these are important kind of
astronomy terms that everybody uses
that’s right so if you’re looking at the
Sun with your approved sunglasses and
the moon is out there when the moon
first touches the edge of the Sun that’s
called first contact
then the moon moves across right now if
you see if you’re looking at the feed
the moon is kind of taking a bite out of
the Sun and when the the complete moon
covers up the Sun entirely that’s called
second contact so that’s really the
beginning of totality they’re in contact
that’s right and then as it moves across
the Sun once totality ends that’s called
third contact and that’s only about a
minute and a half later here where we
are some places it’ll be seconds for the
longest in America it will be just over
two minutes
that’s third contact and then the moon
will move away the team’s Sun will start
to be winning again yep and when the
moon finally moves away from the side of
the Sun that’s called the fourth fourth
quarter and so we’re we’re in between
first and second correct right now and
it’s during first between first and
second and between third and fourth
contact where you have to use that ISO
approved solar protection for your eyes
in between second and third which is
totality if you’re lucky enough to be in
the path of totality that’s when you can
actually remove your Eclipse glasses and
marvel right in what is happening above
and the truth is a lot of times when we
think about the Eclipse and we see
images of the Eclipse these are images
that are taken through telescopes or
taken through zoom cameras and we’re
really looking at the Sun and the moon
with no context but part of the joy and
the awe of in Eclipse is actually not
looking at the Sun but looking around
you it’s going to be dark as night right
it’s going to be cold and the color
apparently of the sky of the ground of
your skin is a color that’s almost
indescribable because this is a type of
quote-unquote night that we’ve never
seen it’s not normal night right I’m
that’s what I’m most excited about to
see what the colorist here in Oregon it
is there is a forest fire nearby here so
there’s a little bit of dust in here
it’s still a beautiful day so I think
that dust is gonna make the colors
really maybe orange I don’t know we’ll
see I’m excited to see that absolutely
so guys I’m really excited because we
are able to get on the line right now
with Andrew Fazekas he is in Myrtle
Beach so totality is is not as nice for
him there in Myrtle Beach but he is a
NatGeo journalist
she writes about this stuff all the time
and he’s gonna be able to share some
interesting stuff with us hey Andrew can
you hear us
you bet I can yeah happy Eclipse day how
you doing buddy oh very good very good
I’m actually on the beach I I’m actually
south of Myrtle Beach now I’m in the
Isle of palm
I made the trek down here it’s about an
hour-and-a-half drive south and just
very close to Charleston and right in
the path of totality and what I’m in the
middle of like thousands of people I
can’t believe it it’s like and they just
keep coming onto the beach I’m like I’m
really stoked because you could feel the
energy around around here amazing that’s
incredible so how is the cloud cover
looking do you think you’re gonna have a
clear shot it’s not gonna be clear
that’s for sure I can tell you that
there’s a lot of cloud there’s a high
level high clouds we’re hoping for like
this microclimate effects on the along
the coast here and we can’t see I can’t
see the Sun through this high deck of
clouds so I could save the way it is we
should be able to see the Sun and
definitely darken I mean there’s no
question about that
absolutely so Andrew I wanted to ask you
about an incredible opportunity that
individual Eclipse viewers have you know
a lot of us were lucky enough to get our
hands on a pair of Eclipse glasses that
we can use to view it but you know once
the Eclipse is over what do you do with
those things well that’s right so some
people are thinking well I might keep my
glasses for the next Eclipse but that’s
in seven years in 2024 and the polymer
that that that are used in the solar
eclipse classes aren’t really able to
last that long okay and so so there are
about two three years lifetime so if
you’re planning on foot anyway is just
not gonna not gonna work they’re very
inexpensive suits that you can always go
out and buy that for the next month so
what’s a suggestion that astronomers
Without Borders this amazing nonprofit
which by the way this full disclosure
I’m also involved in because I love this
this idea of why not instead of wasting
your glasses donate them to school
in Asia and South America that will
experience their own totality full
eclipse in 2019 and so this is a great
way that folks can can recycle their
glasses and have another people on the
other side of the world enjoy this
amazing moment that we’re all going to
experience today that is such an
incredible opportunity you know I have
some paper glasses I have these really
cool eclipse shades that I’m rocking
right now and I would love to be able to
contribute to the education of some
school children in parts of the world
where maybe it’s not so easy to get
their hands on this so you said
astronomers Without Borders that’s who
we can donate our glasses to exactly so
astronomers Without Borders dot o-r-g
org online you can go and visit them
they’re going to be announcing very soon
where and when to do the hold onto your
glasses just for a little bit so they’re
just hold on to it and we’ll be sending
out instructions on where you can send
your glasses into and we’ll have
corporate partners will help us gather
them from across the country and we’re
hoping to just send them on mass
somewhere else so they can get reused
with love it’s going to be an awesome
opportunity to inspire youngsters into
stem right I mean that the Eclipse is an
amazing inspiration that’ll spark you
know a whole generation potentially of
engineers Sciences astronauts right
absolutely and guys for a lot of you
it’s the first day back at school so
what a great thing to do during your
first day back hey Indra I got one more
question I want to ask you before we go
you write for National Geographic and I
read your writing all the time it
teaches me so much about astronomical
phenomena I would love to know what was
your favorite thing that you learned and
then wrote about when you were preparing
for the Eclipse for me it’s the
firsthand stories of animal behavior it
is absolutely incredible how nature
responds to an eclipse a totality
particular that only lasts our precious
few minutes it animals do respond
everything from whales dolphins to
small insects ants and even spiders
some spiders destroy their their webs
during those precious few moments
exactly yeah so so there’s there’s a lot
of things and there’s actually a cool
app out there called life responds it’s
through an AI naturalist expire the
kanay California Academy of Sciences and
they if you download this free app yeah
they’re collecting your stories from a
cost across the country of what you’re
seeing in the wildlife around you could
be ants or it could be Birds whatever
whatever you’re seeing and this will be
used by scientists by behavioral
ecologist to understand how wildlife
really respond
that’s incredible guys you should
contribute your knowledge if your dog is
freaking out let them know Andrew thank
you so much for checking in with us you
bet and I wish everyone clear skies and
happy eclipsing to you as well well guys
if you are just joining us on the live
feed I’m Cara Santa Maria here with
astronaut former astronaut Terry Virts
this is kind of my most special happiest
day of my life and we’re here in
Terrebonne Oregon viewing totality where
we’re getting closer and closer to a
totality we’re in a partial eclipse
right now we are here with National
Geographic and Airbnb we’re live on
Facebook on periscope and on YouTube and
we are taking your questions and
comments you just can reach out through
the National Geographic Facebook page or
on twitter using the hashtag nat geo
eclipse it is 10:06 a.m. Pacific Time
reality yeah in 13 minutes right can you
think of any other cool Eclipse things
that you learned when you’re studying up
well well I would say if you’re on the
west coast of America right now you’re
in a partial eclipse yeah so it’s it’s
here and but don’t do this without a
pair of these you have some approved
glasses you can actually see the Sun is
amazing it’s like it’s not it’s not
normal I’m gonna look up with my
approved binoculars right and the true
says I’m yeah oh my gosh it looks like a
crescent moon but it looks like about
right the Sun looks like the moon right
now a little bit cold like I think I’m
gonna be participating a little the
darkness has gotten a little bit darker
it’s kind of gray I actually noticed
that to you the camera guys here have
had to change their their iris because
even on the the telescope you notice
that it was getting darker and darker
and they have to open up that iris a
little bit right that’s crazy that’s
really cool how do people send us their
questions so they can send us their
questions at national Geographics
Facebook page okay and they can also
send us questions on Twitter using the
hashtag Nat Geo eclipse okay yeah so
we’ve got so many cool ones okay I’ve
got one here from Charlotte
Teague Charlotte to you I hope I’m
pronouncing your name right and
Charlotte asks when was the last time
that this happened Charlotte that’s a
more complicated question than you might
then you might know I think the easiest
answer to that question is that the last
time that a solar eclipse that had
totality a total solar eclipse happened
in the continental United States was in
1979 that’s right and so before you were
born
yeah for many of us watching today that
was before we were born and even for
many people who were born then who
didn’t get a chance to see it yeah right
this is their first opportunity which is
incredible it is this is my first time
ever seeing it and there’s millions or
tens of millions of people this will be
the first time ever and maybe only time
ever to experience it in 1979 there were
no live streams right so for a lot of
people this is the first time that even
if they’re not in totality they’ve been
able to tune in with us right and
experience this once-in-a-lifetime event
I’ve heard this is gonna be the most
photographed event in human history so
we’ll see if that’s true or not but
everybody seems to be talking about it
it’s true we were talking this morning
about you know is this gonna be the
biggest astronomical event is this gonna
be the most the most photographed event
at all and I was like no but the Mars
rover landing it was awesome and he was
like Kara we’re nerds yeah even if
you’re not interested in science and
have no idea
you can’t miss this if you’re in the
path to tell totality and you’re awake
you’re going to notice that the Sun
disappeared for a few minutes absolutely
and the truth of the matter is we can
get really heady with the science and I
think we will after totality we’re
getting so close because so I don’t want
to start a crazy conversation but after
reality I’d love to talk a little bit
about general relativity I’d love to
talk about Einstein and about some of
the incredible predictions that were
actually proven by being able to observe
a total solar eclipse but there’s a big
spectrum if you’re viewing it total
solar eclipse you can really appreciate
the deep incredible telling science
that’s happening but you can also think
of it just the simply we’re here there’s
a thing in front of a thing that’s all
that’s happening during a total solar
eclipse the moon is here the Sun is
there the moon is blocking the Sun they
happen to align in such a way that to
our own eyes they look like they’re the
same size it’s a shadow it’s a shadow
it’s just a big shadow and the the cone
that central part of the shadow is
called the Umbra we are slowly going to
be within that Umbra right now we are in
the penumbra which is the shadow that’s
that’s around it whereas if the u.s. is
going to be you can hear people
squealing in the back probably didn’t
pick that starting to get dark and
people are starting to scream to freak
out a little and here’s the thing if you
read a lot about eclipses and the
personal experiences that people have
had when viewing eclipses their response
is really very for some people this is a
religious experience for others it’s
just a really cool sciency thing that
they get to geek out about and for yet
others people actually get scared you
know
well imagine if you didn’t know this if
you couldn’t predict that it was coming
hundreds of years ago or thousands of
years ago you would have no idea people
made up mythology to explain dragons
eating the Sun and that kind of thing
and so unless you know it’s coming it
could really be frightening and for some
people even knowing it’s coming it’s you
you get that cognitive dissonance
we know it’s coming right but I don’t
think we really are prepared I think
anybody can be truly prepared I am
shivering it is getting pretty cold we
are getting really really close it’s
10:00
11 rise so that means that we have only
seven minutes eight minutes seven and a
half until totality coming up and I
don’t know I mean I know what to expect
in my mind but emotionally I’m not sure
how prepared I’m gonna be for this I may
cry I just have to warm you and I won’t
be able to touch up my makeup so you may
have a raccoon host during the rest of
the livestream which is fine that’s fine
right it’s okay okay so we’ve got a
Twitter photo here and this is a nice
panoramic that some people took while
they were hanging out Oh Michael
it’s so stunning and of course the Sun
is still high in the sky there but soon
it will be completely darkened right by
the Eclipse which is just incredible can
we check in on the livestream again you
guys because I want to see how close we
really are is that well that’s stunning
that totality is already happening over
the Pacific Ocean
and it it’s racing at us at 1,700 miles
an hour and of course it’s 10:00 12:00
a.m. where we are here and I want to
just make sure it’s 10:00 11:00
according to my according to my iPhone
and that’s where my solar timer is so
it’s 10:00 11:00 right here I’m getting
texts from friends and that means that
we are you know getting close to the
countdown that second contact is at 10
19 and 44 seconds if we’re going to be
because it’s my birthday everybody in
America now knows when my birthday is
it’s just turned to 1012 so guys we’re
getting really close and what I’d like
to do is as soon as totalities about to
hit I’m gonna do a little countdown I’m
probably gonna stand up from my chair
and I’m gonna just look up in awe I know
that Terry you’re gonna try and get some
really beautiful photographs let’s talk
about some of the things we might see
during totality well the first thing you
don’t want to look really until it’s
actually totality because even at 99%
covered the Sun can still be dangerous
so don’t actually stare at it until it’s
actually fully eclipsed but in the
seconds but immediately before the moon
covers the Sun there are two things
called diamond ring phenomenon and
Baily’s beads
and the diamond ring is called that
because it looks like a diamond ring
you’ll see an orange glow around the
moon and then when there’s still a
little bit of Sun up it’s a really
bright white thing so it looks like a
golden diamond ring with a big white
diamond itself so it’s kind of like when
we’re basically starting totality but
it’s just off kilter just before the
totality at the diamond ring and then as
the moon passes in front of the Sun the
moon is not a perfectly round object
there’s craters and so there’s a bunch
of divots on the moon and as the sun’s
light kind of filters and flows through
those craters it makes an uneven shape
so if you looked at the shadow it’s
almost like a hexagon or a polygon on
the earth it’s not a round thing and so
the moon’s craters create these things
called Baily’s beads and they only last
for fractions of a second or maybe a
second or two so lots millions of people
will have their camera set on high-speed
yeah firing off their pictures trying to
get that perfect daily speed picture oh
and here’s an important point if you are
trying to do some Astro photography or
some solar photography I should say turn
off your flash make sure your flashes
off otherwise you’re gonna be really not
happy with the way your flash will not
light up the moon no it will not no well
not so looking for that diamond ring
phenomenon looking for those Baily’s
beads I’ve also heard about an
incredible phenomenon that are called
shadow bands and it doesn’t always
happen but sometimes you see this
banding on the ground and scientists
still don’t really know what causes are
but they look like snakes and there have
been historical reports of them being so
vivid that children will try to catch
them right it’s just incredible I can
see oh look at this stunning photo that
was taken oh gosh I know it’s not oh my
director just told me that’s live that’s
not a stunning photo that’s actually us
right now
isn’t it funny the the Sun looks so
strange it is a weird pattern yeah that
pattern actually reminds me of this
beautiful geodesic dome that we have
behind us here this was built for two
lucky winners and it was it was built by
Airbnb and so in conjunction with NASA
National Geographic there was a
competition where two lucky winners got
to spend the night in this geodesic dome
and they got to do some nighttime
viewing with the nation’
Geographic photographer and an
astronomer and now they are up in an
airplane you guys chasing the Eclipse
trying to get in some of those first
images of totality I can’t even believe
it can you see that it’s gotten dark
it’s got dark and cold it’s incredible I
know I’m shivering a little bit it’s
gotten dark and cold and you can kind of
tell even from this wide shot the Sun
still gleaming from behind the moon it’s
bright enough that even that sliver is
giving you all of those lovely rays but
look at the telescope here we are
literally three minutes away from
reality it is incredibly clear I think
we’re at the point where I kind of want
to stand up there come to scream people
are screaming you can hear them in the
background
prepare for shadow band observation guys
we are getting so close that we’re gonna
have a countdown in just a minute and
I’m gonna stand up and actually look so
I might be turning my back to you a
little bit if you come back to see but
oh my gosh Terry you have to see this
the Sun looks like a little fingernail
that’s amazing you guys this is
incredible it’s just incredible it’s
still bright enough that it’s it’s
lighting up earth where we are but it’s
starting to look a little bit more like
like dusk right no it’s definitely it’s
definitely fun is setting but the sun’s
high up in the sky it’s great to me it
looks great it doesn’t look like normal
like dusk is kind of orange and pink
it’s not like that it’s more of a
beautiful because you know usually the
reason that dusk is so pink is that the
Sun is setting low on horizon in lots of
atmosphere atmosphere away an atmosphere
turns things kind of pinkish oranges and
since the Sun is high in the sky we’re
seeing it through the typical apps right
you don’t have the refraction that you
get through them so normally only red
light makes it through to us at dusk but
right now all the lights so it’s a we’re
definitely a weirdly colored desk yes
it’s spooky it’s I mean there’s like a
Halloween vibe going on and I know that
you guys can’t see it because all of the
cameras right now are trained on Terry
and myself or on the the wide view or on
the the sunnat’ telescope but all of the
crew everybody
who is here with us for this incredible
event than that geo guys the Airbnb guys
back here everybody has their their sun
protection on they’re looking up and off
in the distance you can hear people
hooting and hollering because I can see
a lot of smiles too and a lot of awe and
amazement yeah this is freaking out I’m
gonna be honest I’m kind of freaking out
it is it’s almost there 17 local time we
are two minutes away from totality right
now and we are so close look at that
live stream you can barely see the Sun
peeking out from behind the moon it
looks like a tiny little crescent and
it’s like the opposite of what we would
generally see oh my gosh people are
howling at the moon we have something
like cancer penis that’s happening out
there vocabulary word for you some
werewolves are very excited about what’s
happening the moon is winning Terry T
moon is winning right now moon who’s on
Team moon I think I’m joining team moon
for sure although if it were like this
all the time there would be no life on
Earth let’s be honest it’s so dark
outside can you guys this is crazy I
know I’m so cold
Terry’s gonna let me wear his NASA
jacket I’m freaking out I’m freaking out
okay this is the best day of my life
officially I Debbie we need to have a
countdown a total solar eclipse and 30
seconds okay 10:18 local time so we are
not quite to countdown but we my app is
actually telling me prepare for second
contact prepare for second contact which
means that we are super super super
close I am going to keep all of my
viewing equipment really close by I’m
looking up with my Solar binoculars it’s
amazing it’s just incredible you know
what I’m actually gonna move over to my
solar glasses so that I no longer have
to hold anything in my hands there’s
just a little bit of Sun left just a
little it’s getting depressing it’s
getting dark my goodness we’re starting
to even see totality look there is a
diamond ring happening right now
Wow there is a diamond ring happening
and we’re not even quite at nope we’re
there we’re in totality yeah guys we’re
there
we’re
totality we’re in the diamond ring right
now and as that diamond ring starts to
fade fade fade were here here come the
Bailey beads now we can look at it oh my
god there it is Wow
you can see the stars you can see the
planets oh my god you guys I’m actually
crying this is the most I’ve ever seen
in my entire life so you can see the
sun’s corona yes
that is amazing its massive from behind
and we get to experience this for a full
minute and a half I’m just gonna soak it
in look at the planet so you can
actually see I know that is incredible
this is amazing Wow Oh
Terry’s letting me look at it through
his zoom lens on his camera I’m losing
my mind
this is unbelievable it’s dark outside
it’s there’s a little red dot on the
right side I wonder if that’s Mars the
light yeah it’s her own oh yeah that
might be a Bailey’s beard coming through
yes around the moon and here you go I’ll
give you this back another thing that’s
an incredible phenomenon is that you
have a 360 degree sunset right now if
you look all the way around you you
still see the warmth of this right this
is something you’d never ever see on
earth except during a total solar
eclipse that is right there’s not just
one guys there’s a hole in the sky
behind the hell and it looks like we’re
just coming out of totality we’re back
into that diamond ring now so I have to
put on my eye protection
it’s creeping back through
unbelievable Wow dream
that right there is the diamond ring
phenomenon we were talking about we’re
coming out of third contact right now hi
I’m so glad it’s a jar it’s so dark that
you can’t see the tears it’s just
incredible shadows on the there’s a man
type guys we’re actually in front of a
really famous rock climbing area and
there are people up on the ridge they
climbed the rock to be able to enjoy the
total solar eclipse there’s even
somebody who’s tightrope walking along
this monkey head rock in order to see it
in all its glory oh my gosh
so now we are in 3rd contact officially
we’re on the other side of the solar
there’s our rock climbers you can see
two of them on the rocks and then you
can see one on the tightrope he enjoyed
the solar eclipse from the tightrope and
can you see the crowd underneath
cheering him on okay we’re talking about
having a once-in-a-lifetime experience
what about that guy congratulations to
him for pulling that off that is
incredible just incredible that was
amazing and it’s starting to warm up
again it’s starting to get bright again
guys we are here if you’re just tuning
in
you just missed totality whoa we are
here live on Facebook on YouTube and on
periscope with National Geographic and
Airbnb celebrating this momentous
once-in-a-lifetime experience I mean you
can probably still hear that my voice is
shaking this was I I knew I wasn’t going
to be prepared for this I knew I wasn’t
going to be prepared for this and I’m
still a little shaken up I’m still
crying also we go yeah we need Terry
Virts former astronaut former Space
Shuttle commander has allowed me to wear
his astronaut jacket so this is a doubly
exciting day for me
so we protect me yeah we never have our
sun protection out because we are fully
into third contact what that means is
that
totality has passed the moon has passed
in front of the Sun and we are now back
into a partial eclipse and it’s a tiny
a tiny little sliver you can see it here
on our live feed from the telescope we
would love for you if you were in this
part of the country and you also saw
totality we would love for you to send
us your photos using the hashtag nat geo
eclipse send us your comments on
facebook as well
I’d love to read some of those live on
air and maybe answer a few more of your
questions I’m calming down a little bit
how about you there were so many things
that just happened it happened like that
there’s no way that was a minute that
was like five seconds I wish that we had
that experience where time Stood Still
yes instead of accelerating so we told
during space shuttle launches we would
tell people just stand back and enjoy it
and taking pictures is fun so if you’re
gonna if you’re of where we are right
now and you’re going to be in totality I
recommend take your pictures and then
put the camera down and just enjoy it
that was amazing seeing the corona yeah
like you could see the sun’s atmosphere
guys here’s the day the sun’s not moving
too much during totality so if you put
your camera on a tripod and you set it
to auto take and let it do the work for
you I would just stand back and
experience it so let’s recap a few of
the things that yes that was incredible
whoo we saw the diamond ring phenomenon
we did we saw I think we saw some of
those Baily’s beads I mean they weren’t
to sing wrong I have to look through the
pictures and it was so fast day became
night yes which was very strange
the birds went crazy people were
screaming people were screaming crying
the corona of the Sun was it was you
could see these plumes of gas yeah just
shooting off and one thing that a lot of
people don’t realize I didn’t realize it
the corona of the Sun is like way
freakin hotter than the Sun at yourself
right because of some sort of magnetic
phenomenon for this to be superheated
and you could see banding you could see
the beauty of the banding with your
naked eye during bright allottee another
two planets you can see planets in the
sky you guys day became night you could
see the stars in the plants and another
thing that you see and if you haven’t
yet hit totality prepare yourself for
this and don’t forget to look do a 360
where you are there’s a 360 degree
sunrise sunset I don’t know what to call
it but you
still see the glow of the Sun along the
horizon right normally sunset there’s
just you know red and pink there and one
song but it was like all around us yeah
is absolutely stunning okay
I have all of my stuff in my chair I’m
gonna reset a little bit cuz I want to
see if any of you have reached out and
sent us your comments and your questions
and oh look at the beautiful geo dome
right now you guys it’s so pretty
we’re so lucky to be here in Central
Oregon with National Geographic with
with Airbnb with that stunning geo dome
behind us and I gotta keep my Eclipse
glasses close by because I’m not done
watching no quite yet but let’s see if
yeah okay we’ve got the telescope view
in front of us too and I’m just gonna
check and see if there any new oh we’ve
got some nope we’ve got those photos no
I want to see some questions oh this is
an interesting question all right we’ve
got a question here from somebody who
doesn’t have a username which is fine is
there a chance in the future that
eclipses will be caused by other planets
and that’s a question from Kazakhstan
will eclipses be caused by oh that’s a
great question
there are eclipses that happen all the
time around the solar system because
many planets have moons the problem with
planets is they’re so far away from
other planets that the shadow that they
form is so small it would never make it
to another planet and if they ever did
it would probably be really bad here on
earth if Jupiter were close enough to
cast a shadow so the planets are a
little too far away to completely
obscure the Sun but there is an
incredible phenomenon called the transit
of Venus yes I actually saw that I think
was 2004 using a pinhole camera I took
the piece of cardboard made a little
pinhole and you can see it on a piece of
paper yes you can actually see Venus
transiting across the surface right
scientists use use those measurements
that they take during the transit to
learn all sorts of things about our
solar system but it’s teeny tiny right
it actually looks like have you guys
seen these incredible photos of the
space station yes
traveling across the surface of the
it looks like that so we had one of the
favorite things I did in space was film
an IMAX movie called beautiful planet
and our director of photography James
neihaus actually came out to California
had a special camera and took a picture
of me flying in front of the Sun onboard
the space station
like a thousand frames a second a really
specialized car but that’s pretty cool
so so if you were on Mars you could get
a transit of the earth you could see the
earth move in front of the Sun but that
would be pretty rare and not that common
of a thing to see but I did read that on
Mars you have a solar eclipse really
it’s almost everyday like really common
because the thing is Mars this moons are
tiny yeah those and Deimos are really
close they’re small and because they’re
so small they can be close to Mars to
stay in orbit and so there’s a small
shadow going across the surface all the
time yeah so even though we won’t have
any solar eclipses that are caused by
other planets there are solar eclipses
on other planets caused by their own
moons quite often it is so when we
finally send people to Mars we won’t
have to have special national geographic
coverage
oh my gosh I love it so much oh we’ve
got another question here this one is
from Stacey Renee and she asks actually
she says my students are wondering hi
students if it’s cloudy out does that
affect the temperature drop hashtag no
geo eclipse hmm so it wouldn’t be as
severe or significant but I still think
there would be a temperature drop just
because the Sun is this occurring that’s
a great question I’ve never bet you it
it really depends on how heavy the cloud
cover is right how sometimes when the
cloud cover is so incredibly thick you
just don’t get much of the Sun correct
through it’s already kind of dark
outside it’s on a stormy day and you’re
cold anyway I bet you in that case it
wouldn’t have much of an effect and
where we are in the high desert of
Eastern Oregon the temperature is
completely dependent on the Sun this
morning it was cold and as the Sun came
up it warmed up but if you’re in a place
like Houston where I’m from it doesn’t
matter where the Sun is that’s hot all
the time that kind of depends on where
you are and how much of your temperature
depends on the Sun or now yeah we were
it was dramatic here in Central Oregon
when the Sun was blocked by the moon
during totality
I was freezing I actually got to borrow
yeah Terri’s astronaut jacket he let me
borrow it you can have this back now if
you’re not careful I will walk off with
that so yeah Stacey I hope that answered
your question you know what Terry I’m
reminded of of some parallels between
the total solar eclipse and some of the
experiences that you’ve been telling me
about being there during shuttle
launches right yeah that was the
interesting to talk about the day
turning into night which is what we just
experienced by the way that was I’m
still kind of on a little bit of a rush
that was amazing but at a shuttle launch
when I launched both my lashes were at
4:00 in the morning which is a great
time but I highly recommend that if you
ever get a chance to go into space 4:00
in the morning so great keep that yeah
born and go to space on my first launch
there was a thin deck of clouds and when
the shuttle engines lit up and the solid
rocket boosters the big white rock had
slid up
nighttime turned in today and for you
know hundreds of tens or hundreds of
miles all of a sudden it was daytime and
I love that people post their home
movies on YouTube and you can Google
sts-130 launched and people are
screaming and cheering because nighttime
turn it a day
and so here we are at the Eclipse yeah
daytime turned into night and people
were screaming and cheering and getting
goosebumps it
it’s a weird parallel but it was really
set like the off yeah and right time of
turned to day and quotes because it
wasn’t from the Sun it was from the
bright rocket right especially because
we had clouds were reflected and it was
amazing that’s incredible and of course
this phenomenon of sort of a hole being
ripped in the sky yes you know for a lot
of people and for me too when I was
watching that Eclipse it looked like
there was a hole it did with the Sun’s
corona it looked like somebody had shot
a hole because the moon doesn’t look
like the moon shadow yes it you couldn’t
tell that was the moon it was just a
hole on the Sun and of course when the
shuttle launches it sounds like a hole
being ripped in the fit the closest you
could be was about three and a half four
miles away in it so it takes you know
ten or tens of seconds for the sound to
get there because the speed of sound is
about a thousand feet per second and but
when it finally gets there there’s this
ripping and this violent shaking
your chest you could feel it and it
sounds like the sky as being ripped in
half and just seeing the Eclipse it was
a similar I mean of different reasons
obviously but it was a similar emotional
experience I’m you guys I’m still
shaking alright so I think we have an
Instagram photo here of some cameras can
we pull that up some cameras that were
set up at Jackson Hole where people are
we’re preparing to watch the Eclipse I
think we can pull that up if not it’s
not a big deal maybe we’ll be able to
get to that oh there we go
I love this guys I love how this event
brings so many amateur astronomer so
many everyday people who are getting
excited about science together in order
to experience this monumental occasion
this is something we can all enjoy and
experience together it doesn’t matter if
you’re an amateur astronomer or a
scientist or have no idea about what a
moon is beginneth it’s something that
brings us all together which is pretty
amazing yeah absolutely
oh my goodness here we are about to
break something huge we are getting the
first photos of our crew who is up in
the plane taking a picture of the solar
eclipse Wow yeah over the Pacific in
order to get it before it came to us and
it doesn’t looks it looks like they’re
in space yeah so you guys can see this
360 phenomena I’m talking about we’re at
the horizon you see the glow of the Sun
but up in the sky it’s utter blackness
40,000 feet right there in the air where
they took this photo an odd perspective
that that’s what it looks like from
space especially that blue band you can
always see not always but at the right
Sun lighting you can see that blue band
and if it were not for the airplane wing
you can tell me that was a picture from
the space station and I believe it that
is incredible and what an incredible
contest these two lucky winners you guys
won a contest that was sponsored by air
B&B
and National Geographic and you can see
in the background right here this
beautiful geodesic dome it’s all lit up
by the Sun by the partial eclipse
the Sun so they got to spend the night
in this geodesic dome they got to do
some night viewing of the sky with a
NatGeo photographer with an astronomer
and then this morning they went up in a
private plane and they chased the
Eclipse so let’s talk a little bit about
that chasing the Icarus obviously they
can’t catch it cuz how fast is the
Eclipse move it’s going about 1700 miles
an hour yeah I don’t think we have
airplanes so yeah they’re in a Gulf
Stream right now so it’s probably going
about 500 miles an hour although we were
reading last night in 1972 the Concorde
which was a supersonic passenger
airplane went twice the speed of sound
chased an eclipse across Africa and they
got over 70 minutes of totality minute
and of course NASA just right now is
actually chasing it what kind of plan
it’s called a WB 57 it’s a old Air Force
airplane from the 1950s and 60s that
nASA has repurposed for science you can
put all different kinds of instruments
that look at earth or a look at the sky
and right now they have special
instruments that are looking at the
telescope and the advantage of being an
airplane is you can fly to the east and
and not completely keep up with it but
spend more time in the shadow then we
just had five seconds in the show we had
a minute and a half of totality are
canta and here’s where we are right now
in third contacts that were in a partial
cuts on the other side of totality we
have already seen the total eclipse so
we had a minute and a half our our
contest winners up in the plane I think
are getting about four minutes maybe
three and a half they were saying only
an extra 20 or 30 seconds so anywhere on
the ground yeah I take it anywhere on
the ground in the United States you’re
gonna get if you’re in the path of
totality anywhere from a couple seconds
to just over two minutes right
so they got a leg up on anybody on the
ground but these NASA planes that are
getting close to seven minutes they’ll
get in multiple minutes yeah that’s
which is amazing amazing right oh my
gosh can I see that picture from the
plane again I would love to see I’m
dying that’s amazing this is incredible
incredible and Terry are you gonna post
some of your photos after the stream so
that we can get a look at them I am I’m
trying to do it now we’ll see how the
Wi-Fi comes
is going for my camera so you’re Astro
Astro teri on Twitter and Astro
underscore teri on Instagram great and I
need to be also tweeting and facebooking
a lot of Eclipse data throughout the day
I’m at Cara Santa Maria on Twitter and
I’m at facebook.com slash science Cara
but of course this amazing experience
that we’re doing that we’re having today
this stream that’s hosted it’s going to
be or it is right now on national
Geographics Facebook page so reach out
on National Geographic tell us what’s
going on in your neck of the woods and
you can also reach out on twitter using
the hashtag nat geo eclipse we are here
with National Geographic and Airbnb and
we are so lucky to be in such a
beautiful part of the country
experiencing the awe and wonder that is
this once-in-a-lifetime event I’ve never
experienced anything like that that was
really powerful spacewalks I have been
yes but this was a unique experience
I’ve never experienced anything like
that you guys that’s a quote okay that’s
a quote I want to see that trending on
Twitter right now he’s never experienced
anything like this yeah that’s true
it’s just incredible it’s just
incredible yeah
alright I’m hoping that a few more of
your comments are able to come in soon
I’m wired up with you but of course the
Wi-Fi is not incredible out here in the
middle of the high desert let’s see
where we are
do we are we going to be able to check
in with any other of our National
Geographic science writers any of our
correspondents on the ground okay so
we’re trying to establish some
connections right now with some other
folks that are on the ground so that we
can chat with them i teed this up before
we didn’t get a chance to talk about it
all right we’re about to bone up a
little bit on general relativity that’s
right yes some of the science yeah
so one of the amazing things that we
just experienced when the Sun
disappeared t moon was winning for a
couple minutes but I think team Suns
back on the Oh team on the office teams
that is for sure back up I’m just gonna
put on my super cool Eclipse shades one
more time that’s right and take a look
it’s so weird because it’s like the
opposite it’s like it’s like a crescent
the Sun it’s like Oh
Crescent Sun it’s orange orange yes so
one of the things that we saw you could
see planets mm-hmm and back in 1919 yeah
right soon after mr. Einstein had
decided or had come up with this general
and theory of relativity they wanted to
test the hypothesis that gravity could
bend the light of stars and so during an
eclipse they were able to look at a star
that was really near the Sun normally
you can’t see the star cuz it’s too
bright but during an eclipse it blocked
the sun’s light so they could see where
the star was only the star was a little
bit not where it should have been and
that was because the gravity from the
Sun was bending the light of the star so
the star didn’t actually move but where
it looked to us move because the Sun was
like a big lens out there that kind of
bent the light and then that just proved
that Einstein was right and that
relativity was true yeah and so you know
if you think about it prior to
Einstein’s really groundbreaking theory
that a lot of people didn’t really
believe at first people thought that
gravity was a force like there’s a
physical force that an attractive force
that’s pulling and we sometimes talk
about it that way in a Newtonian sense
in order to understand it a more kind of
elementary level but the truth is as I’m
xym posited gravity is actually just
what happens when space-time is shifted
gets worse though space time is this
fabric that’s out there they’re
inextricably linked and when there are
large large objects they physically warp
the space-time around them so he was
saying guys if the Sun goes out and
we’re able to see all of the stars that
are right really close to the Sun we
should see some warping we should we
should have take their measurements
during the Eclipse right just a little
bit different right then then how they
are at night but actually beyond that
things like time change things like your
mass changes and your size change too
and you know and I know this because
when I was in space I urged seven
milliseconds less than everybody else on
earth yes I’m younger than I would have
otherwise been you might have noticed
you know you went back in time also wait
so you’re really go back in time but
time slowed down slow down right that’s
a better rate of
so not only did time slowdown for you
you grew I did grow but that wasn’t that
wasn’t from relativity from a lack of
gravity you know all astronauts get
taller and I was finally I was 6 feet
tall while I was in space we have it we
have a tape measure on the wall you
could like you know 6 feet tall and then
within a couple hours back on earth
gravity was one again that must you must
feel so heavy when you first land you
feel very heavy after my first flight I
was sitting there getting the Space
Shuttle powered off had probably been 30
minutes finally it was shut down and it
was time for me to get out and a fellow
astronaut came in and I went to I
reached him like my helmet and I was
like oh be careful this helmet weighs
500 but after a day or two you’re back
to normal but the first day you’re dizzy
and heavy so how many hours did you
spend in space over seven months over
seven months seven months times 24 times
you were a math major
I was but how many hours or minutes I
should say did you spend on Evo doing a
spacewalk so this my spacewalks were
over nineteen hours I did I did three
different spacewalks and of course most
of the photos that you all of the photos
that you took in space we’re taken from
within the ISS but you’re taken how many
total over 300,000 300,000 and you can
see here your new book view from above
that’s right that includes not all 300
that’s not all three I’m super excited
about this book it’s a National
Geographic photography book but also
with stories from space so it’s not a
memoir it’s it’s about taking a space
mission and putting it in work format
and between the pictures and the the
stories I think it really I tried to
capture what it’s like to be in space
yeah super excited October 3rd October
3rd most of us don’t have the pleasure
obviously at least not yet of being able
to go to space so this is a great way to
be able to share it yeah so many
millions of people are super interested
in space and I wish they could go and I
think in the future more people will
have a chance to go but for now there’s
only been a few hundred of us that have
gone so I’m trying to share that
experience and of course the statistic
was until today that one in a thousand
people across the world had ever
experienced a total eclipse right that
it’s I mean it’s such a rare
everything it’s rare in the sense that
it doesn’t pass over our heads very off
right it’s not rare in the astronomical
sense right things line up in such a way
that there’s an eclipse
quite often right but usually it’s
happening in the ocean usually it’s
happening in a place where there’s not a
lot of population right or in space or
in spitting shadow is always there
somewhere yeah but here in the United
States in the continental United States
actually in all of the United States
everybody got to experience at the very
least a partial eclipse and a fair
amount of people were in the path of the
far ohmygosh or in the path right now
you might be in a total eclipse right
now over the middle of America right you
guys that’s insane and I want you to
tell me about it okay so make sure that
you use the hashtag NatGeo Eclipse and
there is our NatGeo eclipse this is a
live feed from our telescope right now
oh my gosh okay we’ve got some great
great questions that are coming in here
oh okay and here’s one from Rizwan
Qureshi and Rizwan asks when shall we
expect the next full lunar eclipse in
the future and in which part of the
world why would you ask us a question we
don’t know the let’s talk about what a
lunar eclipse is versus a solar eclipse
yeah that’s a good idea that’s so the
moon is casting a shadow right now on
Wyoming route roughly it’s in the middle
part of America mm-hmm and that’s a
solar eclipse but the earth also casts a
shadow and right now it’s just out in
space somewhere but when the moon passes
on the other side of the earth and it
goes into that Earth’s shadow
that’s the lunar eclipse so it’s similar
idea it’s just 180 degrees out it’s so
cool so cool and you know we talked a
little bit about the soro cycles these
cycles that are about every 18 years and
of course solar cycles mean that the
same eclipse happens every 18 years but
it’s not gonna be in the same place on
earth because of course the earth is
rotating so unfortunately we only get an
eclipse in the same place on earth every
seven 307 right to the genome yeah 375
years enter the airbnb code but that
sort of cycle also applies to lunar
cycles isn’t that cool yeah
so we also have that same lunar cycle
that’s happening about every 18 years
which i think is about 6500 days yeah
Casey roughly plus or minus we have a
call who is our call from who are we on
the line with howdy this is Alistair
Hayden calling in from Victor Idaho hi
Alistair how are you good how are you
guys we just experienced totality here a
few minutes behind you all and I just
wanted to check in so I’m a National
Geographic Explorer I’m a geologist and
we’re out here with a bunch of other
geologists and astronomers and
biologists all just taken in the site oh
my gosh so out there we just had
totality a few minutes before you I
cried I’m gonna be honest I think people
could hear it in my voice I couldn’t
hide it tell me about your experience oh
the experience was I mean you hear about
how awesome it is but nothing just
prepares you for it you know you hear
about the temperature dropping and it
looks like you’re wearing sunglasses
it’s just so dark out but you look
around and we had a perfectly clear sky
and so it felt like there was clouds but
there was definitely not and we’re up
here on a hill overlooking the we’ve is
called Teton Valley so we’re deaf to the
west of the Teton National Park right
here there’s lots of people today but we
heard we could hear the people down in
the valley we heard the shouts go up
across the valley as totality was
happening yeah so it started him started
in the west on the other side of the
valley and came over to us and you know
our whole group we’ve got 30 scientists
out here and they all moved in holler
just as well incredible we’re looking at
some photos that you sent in right now
you know we could hear people we’re in a
pretty remote place in Oregon right now
but we could hear people all around for
miles they were screaming it was such a
stunning experience I was there have you
seen a total solar eclipse before so
I’ve never seen a total one but my
parents took me out of school when I was
about seven or eight to witness one of
the partial ones and I’ll never forget
that that in our garage there’s all
these holes and then just looking at the
floor and seeing the
the pinhole camera projections of the
Eclipse and we trace them out in chalk
and I I you know it’s one of those
things that just seems too crazy to be
true but we saw the same thing again
today and so this was something else but
you some you are you saw was I think
like pretty you know a wonderful author
once said that comparing a partial
eclipse to a toll solar eclipse is like
comparing riding in an airplane to
falling out of an airplane
yeah something totally different
I have a bow sir we came out I’m sorry
it’s Terry Virts so if let’s do the same
question on a scale from one to ten you
saw partial eclipses in total so let’s
say if a partial eclipse is seven what
would you say is a is a is a full
Eclipse I think I know my number but I’m
curious to see what you think everyone
was are we for me it was about a million
okay yeah there we go it definitely
definitely way way past the off the
charts there yeah that was amazing and
it’s yeah so we were very excited about
this this one so as a geologist I was
really excited to come out to this
specific area we put together all the
great NASA data from the modis satellite
to figure out where the least cloudy
areas where I don’t know if you guys I’d
rather be lucky than good yes we we
found the spot so there you can anyone
listening can go on the NASA website and
download is just the cloudiness data for
the entire whole the entire world and it
goes back 16 years and so we averaged we
looked at just a month of August and
then figured out where in the US was
going to be some of the leaps cloudy so
out here and in Idaho it’s an average of
about one or two cloudy days out of the
entire month of August and that was we
wanted to optimize our chances here and
we were fortunate there’s no forest
fires we’ve got some friends out there
an organ and I heard that that’s
obscuring some views absolutely we’re
lucky enough to be on the east side of
the Cascades here so we were
able to get beautiful clear skies but I
know that for some people that are
closer to this Cascades or on the west
they were dealing with some some smoke
from the forest fires which is a huge
bummer and of course there are parts of
parts of totality that are completely in
cloud cover right now yeah yeah well
hope that the East Coast folks who are
still have their totality coming up get
them some good views I would say if
there’s somebody watching and they’re
not sure and they’re near totality and
they’re but they’re busy they have a
email they need to write or something
drop what you’re doing yeah and go
experience totality that’s something
that will probably never happen again it
was it was it’s worth taking a few
minutes and making sure you do it
absolutely absolutely
so go ahead I was gonna say one of the
you know the the excitement doesn’t just
stop now one of the things I’m excited
for is NASA’s also got this Discoverer
satellite up right now which is I forget
what it stands for but it’s a climate
Observatory and it just sits there and
stares at Earth and it sends back
pictures almost in real time and so I
think it takes about a day to get
uploaded to somewhere that everyone can
go access it but tomorrow I’m gonna go
check and we should be able to see the
shadow of the Moon moving across the US
this almost real-time and you know it’s
like a it’s a webcam for the earth
basically and so tomorrow I highly
encourage everyone to go check it out
the camera is called epic so you know
the pictures are going to be awesome
absolutely that’s so great and of course
you can compare that to the kinds of
pictures that Terry himself took from
that’s right yeah seeing that penumbra
and even the Umbra actually being passed
there on the earth
well Alastair thank you so much for
checking in with us and I’m so glad that
you had a happy Eclipse day it’s just
incredible yeah well thank you very much
I and I wish you guys the best for the
rest of the day and all the people up
coming about to get totality absolutely
may you have a happy totality thanks
Alastair okay thank you very much
credible okay I have a great question
here you guys this one comes in from
Kathy Adams and she
asks what about your pets eyes or yeah
your pets eyes or other animals a
thousand question marks afterward yeah
it’s an interesting question you know we
mentioned that chimpanzees actually off
yes
I’m not sure that a dog when a dog does
freak out cuz they do tend to freak out
a little bit during an eclipse it’s
generally not because they’re looking at
the Eclipse itself it’s because of the
darkness that comes Freddie Eclipse yeah
I think most animals will not stare at
it that’s an interesting question I’ve
never heard studies that show lots of
animals having eyesight loss you know
after it Clips but that is a great
question yeah I mean I think the animals
that we should be concerned about are
the great apes who have the curiosity
brainpower and figured out to go what is
going on and actually look up right and
so hopefully they get to experience the
off totality right and they won’t really
want to look until its totality and
during that minute or two it’s actually
safe to look so it’s not too bad it’s
true and I even I even noticed and I
think most of you will as well
the Sun will tell you when you can look
at it and when you can’t right it’s
perceptibly d’arco hearing totality and
when the diamond ring phenomenon happens
and the Sun just peeks through it’s
blindingly bright right have to put your
Solar glass a few seconds before
totality it’s too bright to look at
exactly and then all of a sudden that’s
not and then all of a sudden right
totalities done before you know it it
only last few seconds oh it’s a minute
twenty five that’s a long time right
it’s not enough you know what’s
interesting in that forty mile or
depending on how where you are how wide
it is band if you’re on the edge of it
it’s only a few second like we drove 10
miles and added a minute to our amount
of totality and a 10 mile south that’s
not even in totality at all so it’s a
really dependent location dependent
amount of time that you get in totality
do we have a map of that I’m not sure if
we do but there is this wonderful map
that okay but you can you can access
this online and of course National
Geographic has published this wonderful
map that shows the path of to totality
it shows it going from the western
portion of the United States starting in
Oregon all the way down to the eastern
portion in the Carolinas and you can see
the band of totality but you can also
see the larger
of the penumbral shadow the larger
shadow that’s passed or that’s cast by
the partial eclipse and you can
determine where you live within that and
how much of the eclipse you’re going to
experience and even if you’re not within
totality I do recommend that you go
outside and you look at what’s going on
and remember the partial eclipse lasts a
long time we’re still within it right
now can we get a look at that live feed
of the Sun it’s just stunning
you guys I know it looks like a hole in
the sky but that’s the moon it isn’t it
crazy because it’s backlit it’s just
surreal you can’t tell that it’s the
moon no it’s a hole it looks like a just
a hole in the sky James son is winning
though alright so we are lucky enough to
be dialed in now to an a Geoscience
editor Victoria Jagger she’s dialing in
from Sweetwater Tennessee hey Victoria
where are you guys so far in the journey
you have not hit totality yet we’ve got
absolutely great specials going on out
here right now just after 1 o’clock on
Eastern Time just after 1 o’clock ok so
we’re still in our partial but we’re on
the other half of the partial we’re
after 3rd contact because we saw
totality and let me tell you my life is
different
I know spoilers I do let me give you a
little bit of advice and I’ve been
giving it been giving this to the people
on the stream as well don’t just look at
the Sun during totality take the time to
look around you look at the horizon look
at other people’s faces look at the
ground there are so many fascinating
phenomena that occur during totality
that you want to experience the whole of
it oh absolutely
we are fortunate enough to be sitting on
some absolutely gorgeous rolling hills
on the grounds of a vineyard here in
Tennessee and the word on the street
from a NASA astronomer who happens to be
here too is that if we stand in the
right spot we’ll have enough height to
see the moon’s shadow it actually rolls
off the field
that’s insane Wow Wow
oh that’s a perspective not many people
will get yeah wonder if these mountain
climbers could see that because they
were cheering a few seconds before we
saw anything so I wonder if they could
see the show yeah yeah we were lucky
enough we’re here in front of a
beautiful rock face that’s a pretty
famous rock climbing location in Central
Oregon you can see it here in the
background and they’re actually people
who climbed the rock and were up on the
ridge even somebody who tightrope walks
across between two rocks and actually
experienced totality from a tightrope
can you believe that he has bragging
rights yeah I absolutely wouldn’t gets
too dark I wouldn’t be able to see what
was going on so Victoria you of course
are you’re the science editor for
National Geographic right okay and you
have been able to oversee a lot of
incredible stories that have been
published throughout the last hours days
and weeks about the Eclipse as you were
doing your research and as you were
reading all of the incredible things
that were written both by yourself and
by a lot of the incredible journalists
that you work with what did you come
across that surprised you what is your
most exciting discovery about the total
solar eclipse it’s gonna sound a little
cheesy but I think one of the things
that really surprised me and still
surprises me even today is just how
excited and how curious people are
getting about what’s happening and why
it’s happening and how it works I’ve
seen some really amazing questions but I
guess because I’m so steeped in it at
the stage of my life it didn’t even
occur to me to ask but they’re really
smart question somebody asked me very
early in the process for instance it’s a
fun rises in the east and sets in the
west
why is the Eclipse going from west to
east hi I had the same question when I
okay the answer to that question well
the with of course you know from my
perspective the Sun is still moving from
east to west but the difference being
that we’ve got the moon getting in
between us and when we experience the
eclipses were in the moon’s shadow
mm-hmm and because of the rotation
direction of the earth and the orbit all
the passes
moon that sort of like it says that the
moon is beaming a thought of ducks onto
the planet yeah and that dot of dark is
moving from west to east yeah because
the sun’s location really doesn’t change
too much during the Eclipse does it you
know it’s doing its normal thing yeah
for the most part it’s just rising high
in the sky absolutely depending on where
you are I am so glad this happened with
the Sun really high in the sky you know
what I mean I’m so glad that where it
was or is for those who are experiencing
it right now was it’s pretty close to
the zenith so you can see it no matter
where you are the hills don’t obscure it
the mountains don’t obscure it that’s
very very made a difference more
dramatic to and it went from like middle
of the day to middle of the night
absolutely but if this eclipse were
happening just after dawn or just before
dusk it may not have been as dramatic
but because it was full Sun middle of
the day it was just stunning
what okay so so Victoria Terry and I
we’ve talked about the alignment of the
the Sun and the moon and the planet
during the Eclipse we talked a little
bit about sort of home oh I can say this
this adji right okay so the great
Scrabble word but apparently the trick
is for the extra Y you have to use a
blank there are chapel s so we’ve been
talking about that we’ve been talking a
little bit about relativity and about
Einstein’s discoveries during the 1919
Eclipse we talked about how the last
Eclipse here in the continental US was
in 1979 a little bit about the frequency
of the Eclipse what have we left out
what’s something like some cool science
information about the eclipse that we
haven’t gotten into have you talked much
yet about how nature responds we got to
talk about that and we were so lucky
that we did we heard some crazy bird
activity while we were here and we had
we had of course was it yeah we did have
some crazy people howling at the moon
but also wasn’t I think Andrew spoke a
little bit about I asked him what was
the most interesting thing he had
written about and he said the top ten
crazy things that animals do what else
what else is like a cool science thing
that people who maybe are out there
looking at the Eclipse and just
marveling at the odds
don’t really realize this happening wow
that’s an interesting question I guess
you know if you’ve already talked a lot
about Hispanic eclipses have you talked
much about the sort of prediction cycles
what they go through no no how does this
work though I mean we’ve been predicting
eclipses for a very very very long time
right like the Babylonians have records
of being able to predict lunar eclipses
and the ancient Greeks were predicting
forward excessive and Eclipse because of
the orbital dynamics it’s literally as
predictable as the Sun Rise we never
down to like minutes to seconds now when
they’re gonna happen so we’re able to
look back at historic eclipses that
maybe aren’t in the record and say
almost certainly what happened on this
day and then we were able to project
forward and say for the next eight
thousand years we know exactly what day
what time what the path is gonna be
across the planet so if you get really
into eclipses and you really love this
one and want to see more it’s going to
be very easy for you that’s incredible
and of course Terry pointed out that in
what six hundred million years yeah we
won’t have any more because the moon is
slowly shimmying away from the earth
correct what a bummer
exactly exactly so maybe we can see
eclipses with from a birth plan that’s
true I would think that by then either
we won’t be here or we’ll be somewhere
else so hopefully that’s the situation
so Victoria have you seen a total solar
eclipse before this is my absolute first
time isn’t it so incredible how almost
everyone we talked to this is their
first time and for many of us it may be
our last time ever I mean it’s such an
important experience so Terry was just
urging individuals before and I think it
bears repeating if you’re in the middle
of your workday if you’re running
errands if you have that one email that
you’re trying to answer just put it down
just put it down and go outside yeah if
there ever were a deal to go outside and
look up with proper eye protection yes
today would be the day to do it yes
please
well Victoria thank you so much for
checking in with us how much longer
until your your totality well it’s about
just after two o’clock here in Tennessee
and totality starts for us right around
2:30 ish a little after 2:30 so you only
have 30 minutes to prepare let me tell
you the whole time you’re preparing
you’re like okay okay we got time we got
time we got time here now here comes the
counted I completely missed our
countdown and then it was over before I
knew it like you think you’re prepared
but when it happens it goes by way
faster than you would like it to so I
would know the happiest of eclipsing you
and everybody who’s on the East Coast
right now I really hope you enjoyed this
momentous occasion oh thank you so much
and thanks for throwing me an assistant
a lot of fun absolutely and thank you
for all of the incredible work that
you’ve been doing guys go to National
Geographic right now and read all of the
wonderful articles that have been
written by Victoria by many of the other
journalists who write for the science
pages there so much great knowledge
about about the Eclipse and of course
just to remind everybody who’s watching
on the stream right now I’m Cara Santa
Maria I’m a science communicator I’m
here with Terry Virts
a former NASA astronaut and space
shuttle commander and we are in the high
desert here in Central Oregon
Terrebonne Oregon on this beautiful
private property you see this geodesic
dome behind me this was a prize two
lucky winners got to sleep in this air
B&B last night they got to observe the
night sky with a NatGeo photographer and
an astronomer and early this morning
they hopped into a private plane and
they got to chase the Eclipse and this
is what they saw guys they caught that
first Eclipse motor before anybody here
was able to see it look how stunning and
Terry what did you think before about
this ball it looks like a picture from
the space station with the exception of
the airplane wing being there but it it
really looks like from space because
it’s this blackness of space and that
thin blue line of the Earth’s atmosphere
you could you could tell me that was a
picture from the space station and I
believe it that’s so jealous what an
amazing experience absolutely I’ve got
to put my son or not my sunglasses my
actual
so I can see it better I just realized I
haven’t been wearing my glasses all day
oh my gosh look at that so these what I
know these two lucky winners from this
incredible competition by Airbnb and
National Geographic they are up in this
airplane chasing the Eclipse they got
longer amount of eclipses than we did
because they’re flying east and although
the shadows moving 1,700 miles an hour
they’re moving probably 500 so they got
extra extra totality than we did a
little bit more but and then of course
the NASA is up in some airplanes they
are able to get about seven minutes of
totality which is just incredible so
yeah we are here with Nat Geo and Airbnb
and we are looking for your questions
your comments your stunning photography
that you’ve been taking during the
Eclipse and you can send it in to us
using the hashtag Nat Geo eclipse you
can also visit us on national
Geographics facebook page this is our
live stream right now you can see this
is the Sun with a partial eclipse we’re
in 3rd contact which means totality has
happened and it’s passing through look
at those sunspots it’s crazy
yeah and guys if you’re in partial
eclipse which most of America is right
now you can look directly at the Sun so
long as you have ISO certified safety
glasses yeah you need to have protection
not like normal sunglasses are not good
enough to stare at the Sun but if you
have something that is certified for an
eclipse it is amazing to look up and see
the Sun it’s the Sun kind of looks like
a partial moon something took a bite out
of it it’s incredible but it’s really
it’s it’s so funny how different the Sun
looks through your certified lenses
whether it’s sunglasses whether it’s
binoculars whether it’s a camera with a
filter on it there are many ways that
you can look at the Sun during an
eclipse so long as they have this ISO
certified filter on it that really
protects not just your eyes that’s the
most important point but also the optics
of your technology the incredible thing
is these filters are so dark that when
you put them on you can’t see anything I
can’t see my hand in front of my face I
think you’re over here no I can hear you
yeah but when you look at the Sun it
gives you enough filtration that you can
actually see the brightness of it and
you can
actually see gosh Terry look up you can
see the corona even with your solar
glasses because you’re able to see
you’re right those light rays coming out
from it so guys we really do urge proper
vision protection and we really do urge
everybody in the country right now to go
outside and with these sunglasses look
up all right this is a once in a
lifetime experience we say this all the
time about the night sky there’s so much
awe and Wonder that you can get just by
looking up and now you get to do it
during the day look up and I promise you
I promise you especially if you’re in
the path of totality disappointment will
not be a word in your dictionary no this
is something you don’t want to miss if
you’re there you need to see it
I cried yeah he saw it you guys saw it
no all right so guys my directors
telling me that they have that footage
of the of totality not of me crying but
of totality here oh my goodness okay so
there’s the diamond ring phenomenon and
it’s starting to slowly slowly evaporate
and now we’re in totality here and
there’s this phenomenon I mean it
basically just looks like blackness to
me but you can see this super super
faint ring there’s this phenomenon
called Baily’s beads Terry what a
Baily’s beads so the moon is not this
perfectly round surface it has craters
and divots in it and as the sun’s light
flows around the moon the craters allow
certain areas of bright sunlight in
certain areas that’s blocked out and so
when you see in the seconds and
fractions of a second right before
totality happens and right after it
happens you can see basically the shape
of the moon being reflected around the
Sun it’s it’s a pretty neat way it looks
like little beads around the Sun it’s
just stunning and the cool thing is that
when you see these totality photos then
you mentioned you think this is going to
be the most photographed event well this
is generating so much interest some some
people are predicting
and it will be and it’s going right
across America where everybody has a
cellphone yeah lots of people have
cameras and it’s gonna be exciting later
on to see what’s on Twitter and
Instagram and see what kind of pictures
people post absolutely and the cool
thing is you know sometimes when it
comes to eclipse photography it’s all
about the timing right and so because so
many different people have been able to
take these images we can compare not
just for our pleasure in our enjoyment
the way that the Sun looked at different
phases from different places but we can
also enjoy like from a scientific
perspective we can really get some great
data and right here guys you can see
totality is just ending and there’s that
once again and at this point through
through of the telescope you can’t
really tell but to your naked eyes this
is blindingly bright at this point that
is when you have to put your solar
potatoes on one a few seconds after
totality and it’s too bright to stir
it’s just fun
absolutely okay let’s see okay so we’ve
got a couple of questions here and a
couple of these we’ve answered earlier
in the stream but they’re I think
they’re pretty important and they bear
repeating we’ve got a question here from
someone who says does this happen with
other planets and as we explained a
little bit before other planets can’t
fully block the Sun when they pass in
front of it they do transit it there’s
something called the transit of Venus
and it goes in front of the Sun but it’s
teeny tiny little dots yeah we actually
there is a shift in brightness and
scientists can measure it we can
actually see it using proper eye
protection but that’s actually
experienced so you’ve read in the news
about discovering planets and other star
systems and that’s actually how we
determine that there’s a planet is that
when it passes in front of starlight it
clearly is not creating an eclipse on
earth but the brightness of the star
dips a little bit from the planet
blocking the svet star’s light and
that’s that’s how we’re detecting
planets right now is with some basically
the answer to that question is how we
detect planets how cool is that
yeah and then if we were to answer this
question a different way does this
happen with other planets maybe we could
say does this happen on other planets
because we’ve got another question this
is if we might be living on Mars someday
can we experience the Eclipse from there
too
well we wouldn’t be having this special
National Geographic presentation because
it happens all the time
the Mars has two moons Phobos and Deimos
and they are very small they’re really
odd shape they’re basically asteroids
that are in really close orbit to Mars
and because they’re so close to Mars
their shadow gets cast on the Martian
surface very frequently and it’s not the
super rare once-in-a-lifetime event that
it is here but it makes me wonder if it
would be as pretty right because our
moon is almost round and the Sun is
almost round so we get this really
stunning ring phenomenon and on Mars as
you mentioned the moons that are sort of
Rocky and asteroids like they’re lumpy
lumpy right they are lumpy and you know
it would depend the amount of totality
would depend on are you is the moon
passing in length wide the skinny white
you know there there would be a big
difference in how much eclipse you get
on Mars and of course totality might
just be that the Sun so obscured that
you can you your honor seem to faintest
little parts of the tendrils of the
ground Oh guys that would be cool to see
one on Mars hopefully someday soon in
the not too distant future it would be
cool I don’t want to undercut how cool
today was it was cool it’s not the word
there are I don’t think there’s a word
to describe know what the word is using
the word we overuse it all the time in
the English language and it bums me out
but this is a perfect example it was
awesome it was awesome like awe
inspiring it inspired awe it made me cry
this is the live view right now from our
partial eclipse so we are past totality
we’ve almost got a full Sun again but of
course our telescope is so powerful that
you can see sunspots which is so
incredible but I think it would be fun
let’s just one more time for those of
you who are just tuning in to the stream
to show the totality event in all its
glory
one more time so if you look here you
can see that the diamond ring phenomenon
is just being Eclipse like out and now
we’re in totality now during this
portion of totality let’s talk a little
bit about what happened what was your
experience like the first thing you
notice is it gets dark you know maybe 10
or 15 minutes before it started to get
gray and it wasn’t a normal sunset dark
like you mentioned it was more just gray
and then it got cold we were really cold
that really cold it was goosebump cold
yeah you’re in the high desert if the
temperature really changed and then
people started screaming and shouting
and hooting and hollering and when it
actually happened it really surprised me
to see the Sun the corona I didn’t
realize how big make it I it was a
gigantic piece of sun’s atmosphere that
you could see yeah sometimes when you
look at pictures and even when you look
at this telescope stream which is so so
dialed in and so big right you see this
tiny little sliver but with your naked
eye the corona extends far out from from
totality right and another thing looking
at the moon there was one bright yellow
or orange dot on the right as we looked
at it kind of on the south and I don’t
know if that’s related to Bailey’s Beach
or not but the seeing the corona I think
for me was the most amazing thing yeah I
think so too and also for me just
looking down and around noticing all of
the wonderful crews out here with us
from National Geographic from Airbnb
seeing them looking up and just gasping
you can see here from the feed this is
when totality is just finishing you
definitely see Bailey speeds popping
through and eventually there is that
diamond ring phenomenon that occurs one
more time it’s just guys
there was a ghostly shadow too on these
mountains it was like a ghost shadow and
the funny thing is the word Umbra which
is that central cone that central shadow
actually means means go oh yeah yeah and
penumbra which is the larger shadow
that’s cast by the moon that you see
during a partial eclipse like what’s
happening right now that term was
actually coined by Kepler that’s a
famous astronomer he is he that’s right
that’s amazing just a little tidbit
there guys this has been so much fun
sorry Abby what to came to say hi this
has been so much fun Terry I couldn’t
have asked for a better partner in crime
for experiencing the Eclipse this was a
once-in-a-lifetime experience I
completely loved it
I’ve wanted to see one ever since I was
a kid and I always thought it would be
cool it’s way beyond cool I mean it was
really impact
full and it’s something right now almost
all of America is in some form of
partial eclipse or total eclipse so I
think it’s something that can bring us
together it’s something that every
American’s going to experience in a very
positive way which may be the best thing
that happens out of this whole event
absolutely no matter your differences
we’re all underneath the same sky and we
get to experience this together I
personally I want to thank you
former astronaut space shuttle commander
terry virts I want to thank National
Geographic
I want to thank Airbnb for this
incredible opportunity and I want to
thank everyone at home for tuning in and
let’s keep the conversation going
you can go to national Geographics
Facebook page and on Twitter Instagram
wherever make sure that you use the
hashtag NatGeo
eclipse to share your stories and your
photos happy Eclipse save you guys it
was so good to be with you
you
this momentous day it is the great
American Eclipse day and we’re here with
National Geographic and Airbnb on this
live stream on facebook youtube and
periscope my name is Cara Santa Maria
and I am a science communicator I’m here
to help communicate some of the science
behind what’s going on but even more
interestingly I am here with a NASA
astronaut tell them but yourself well my
name is Terry Virts I’m a former NASA
astronaut and National Geographic author
I’m so excited to be here it’s amazing I
am thrilled okay so today is Eclipse day
across all of the continental United
States and we have some really fun stuff
going on this is going to meet my
conduit to you guys at home I’ll be able
to answer all of your questions and you
send in I know we’re gonna be a little
overwhelmed with them I’ll be able to go
through and and see what you guys have
to say and we’ll be able to read some of
that stuff on air now I do want to point
out that there is a big difference
between a total eclipse and a partial
eclipse we are in the path of totality
yeah this is amazing we’re right almost
in the middle of that path of totality
as the moon goes around the earth it
casts a shadow and the shadow is pretty
small it’s only about 40-plus miles
across and when you have a total eclipse
that shadow goes right across the
Earth’s surface and that’s where we’re
going to be in just a matter of minutes
yeah I am thrilled we’re here in
Terrebonne Oregon and right now we are
in the phase of the Eclipse between what
they call first and second contact we’re
actually already in a partial eclipse
and we have a live feed of that you guys
can see what’s going on this the moon is
already covering much of the Sun there
and you can even see sunspots through
this life tomatoe incredible is that all
right but I do want to talk about why
we’re here in this beautiful location
which feels like it’s the middle of
nowhere it’s in the middle of nature you
can see that there’s this geodesic dome
behind us and this was a special prize
for two very lucky
Airbnb customers so they got to spend
the night in this geodesic dome and then
today they got to fly with
a natural photographer and with an
astronomer to chase the Eclipse so first
they’re in a helicopter and then they’re
going to be in an airplane where they
get to follow the Eclipse jealous yes so
freaking jealous right and you can see
them here how exciting oh my gosh
such excited winners I can only imagine
what it would have been like oh I wish I
had slept your life what an amazing
place out in the high desert yeah the
stars must have been incredible I’m
beautiful but I gotta be honest I stayed
in a pretty dope it was pretty so I’d
love to check in with Jude Ida Eisler
dr. Josiah Eisler who is the astronomer
who went up in the plane with them and
Bob back to freshy who is the NatGeo
photographer let’s see what they have to
say hey y’all it’s dr. today to Eisler
I’m an observational astrophysicist and
a lover of the night sky I’m so excited
about what’s gonna happen fall backs a
fishy I’m a night sky photographer
working with National Geographic and the
founder of the world at night program so
the whole life I was involved with night
sky and a fan of astronomy so it’s
almost like we’re doing the coolest
thing one could do if one we’re going to
watch sa once-in-a-lifetime solar
eclipse we’re going 35,000 feet in the
air to watch the Eclipse yeah it’s a
private jet are you excited yeah that’s
the best place I think to see the coming
shadow I’m going shadow and it’s much
faster than our plane almost six times
faster yeah it is yeah there’s no way
we’re gonna keep up with it so all of
those those of you are excited for us
we’re excited too but we’re not gonna be
able to go with the shadow it will pass
us very quickly but we’ll still get a
very unique vantage point that we’re
really excited yeah I think we get 15 to
20 seconds more to talk by being the on
the plane using the shadow so it’s
slightly more than the ground but the
main benefit I think it’s just to be
among the first people to see it
probably less than 10 minutes before the
others on the Lincoln beach I love it I
love it yeah I think that’s true right
getting to see it early is always fun I
would watch it at any time but if
why should a 35,000 feet I will every
eclipse is different depending on the
ambient environment that we were seeing
it could be with some clouds reflection
of the clouds colors in the clouds it
could be the shadow coming in could be
people and their emotional reaction so
I’m going to include many of those in
the opportunity we are going to have on
the plane
we have guests and probably it’s their
first total solar eclipse so I’m going
to capture those emotions as well as
close-up of Eclipse as I said you know
there’s streamers coming out of the
solar corona are better visible from our
office here but my main aim would be to
capture this shadow coming especially
when you’re up in the air you see the
cone of the shadow much more clear than
being on the ground so all these
together I think it will be a very
diverse total solar eclipse for me so
the next time you see us we’ll be 35,000
feet up looking directly near the Sun
with our protective glasses on we hope
wherever you are you get a chance to
watch it or experience it in some way
it’ll be fun
see you soon oh my gosh so so excited
I’m really jealous they will have
bragging rights they will absolutely
have bragging rights
okay so let’s recap a little bit of what
they mentioned during a solar eclipse
it’s really quite a simple concept it’s
that the moon is in front of the Sun we
happen to be in that path which is
there’s a fun word for this it’s called
sisig II this is gee I always say syzygy
and that’s when the planetary bodies
align so perfectly and most of America
is actually in what they call the
penumbral shadow which is the almost
umbral shadow the large shadow that’s
cast out and that happens during a
partial eclipse most of America is in a
partial eclipse right there’s a skinny
line you said earlier 40 plus miles
across that is the totality line where
you’ll be able to see the Sun or the Sun
be completely blocked by the moon that’s
right now these different phases require
different types of protection so maybe
we should do it a quick thing they do
we’ll do a demonstration
don’t do this unless you have some
approved glasses on but I’m gonna
actually look at the Sun with the
approved glasses and you can see it’s
amazing you can see the moon has taken a
significant bite out of the Sun right I
have to just point out real quick that
my safety glasses are a little yes I’m
losing all the bragging rights here and
we should mention that they need to be
ISO certified glasses there are some
fakes out there which is a huge bummer
why would somebody do that these are not
these are not normal sunglasses yeah
yeah yeah so and also when you’re in a
partial eclipse it doesn’t make the Sun
any worse it’s not more dangerous than
it is on any day but on a normal day
you’re not gonna stare at the Sun and
when there’s an eclipse you’re
interested to see what’s going on up
there that’s why it’s more dangerous
it’s just the likelihood of you actually
staring at the Sun absolutely and the
closer and closer that we get to
totality so if we look at our live
stream right now of the Sun you’ll see
that it’s a big bite has been taken out
the moon is really covering a bunch of
the Sun but as it gets closer and closer
to the Sun being a sliver it might not
feel as much to your eyes right like it
hurts if you try to look at it it might
not feel as bad and that’s when it’s the
most dangerous because you won’t have
that natural inkling to squint and you
should never look at the Sun this is way
too bright it will damage your eyes so
even if it’s ninety percent covered
exactly even if it’s mostly covered if
or something covered you cannot look at
it without eye protection you want these
iso certified glasses there are also
some cool toys out there and maybe you
already have them might be too late to
get them if you like I have a pair of
solar safe binoculars so I can actually
turn up and look directly at the Sun oh
my gosh and I can see sunspots I’m
freaking out right now you guys I’m
gonna be doing this quite a bit
throughout this stream because I can’t
get enough of it I can look directly at
the Sun with my binoculars
Terry’s doing some incredible
photography right now that’s right but I
have a specialist solar filter on the
front so you do not want to look through
a normal camera at the Sun because that
will be even worse than looking at the
Sun I’ll be like a magnifying glass
focusing those dangerous doing that with
a magnifying yes we did so you don’t
want to do that on your eyeball no apps
and if you happen to be in that narrow
band of totality once the Sun is
completely blocked and the moon is
covering it up then you can take your
glasses off and it’ll be safe for a
minute or two minutes however long
you’re in the path for but until then
you have to have the protection yeah and
so look it up make sure you’re in
totality and you’ll know I mean it’s a
very specific look being in totality but
that’s the time when you can actually
remove your eye protection you can look
straight at the Sun because the Sun is
completely blocked by the moon and all
you can see is that faint Corona and the
truth is if you try to look at the Sun
with your protection because these are
so dark during totality you actually
won’t be able to see any brain that’s
the moment it’s when the Sun sets in the
middle of the day this is what I think a
lot of people don’t realize in type 2 in
totality it’s going to get dark it’ll be
dark it’ll be cooler the temperature
will drop yeah oh my gosh I am so
excited okay so you have never you know
the last solar eclipses in 1979 here in
the United States and so I’ve never
experienced it I was born in 1983
have you experienced from the ground
here on earth a solar I have not this is
my first one but a little birdie told me
that you have seen them from space so
that was a really amazing opportunity
when I was on the space station two
years ago there was an eclipse over the
North Atlantic and as we were flying
over it was really far in the distance
it was more than a thousand miles away
but you could see actually the shadow of
the moon on the earth and if you look at
this picture there’s a solar array from
the Russian progress spaceship there so
underneath that bright white rectangle
you can see the dark spot and that is
actually the moon’s shadow and it was so
amazing to be in space looking at my
planet Earth in the distance and seeing
the shadow from another heavenly body it
was it was it was truly a surreal moment
home base can only imagine and of course
you’ve taken how many photos from space
I took over three hundred thousand how
is it that you don’t have a coffee table
book for my enjoyment well funny you
should ask
actually I have a book called view from
above it’s a National Geographic book
okay and it comes out this October so
it’s a
combination of some of the best of the
not all 300,000 pictures but 300 of the
best and also stories from space what it
was like to be there for launch and
landing what it was like to be there
during some emergencies that we had so
it’s a combination of stories and photos
that kind of take a space mission and
put it in book format so you said it
comes out in October October 3rd just in
time for my birthday you know just
saying October 19th and the reason it’s
an easy thing to remember for me
totality right where we are
starts at 10:19 this morning which is my
birthday and right now I’m just gonna
check it is 1042 so we’re getting really
really close to totality can you believe
it another 942 40 minutes or so another
40 minutes or so and I’m gonna be doing
a countdown I have a great app on my
phone that gives me a perfect countdown
to totality so we’ll be doing a nice
countdown I know that Terry’s gonna try
and get some good astrophotography
what’d you call this astrophotography
it’s like solar photography yeah there’s
probably a special name for it exactly
so he’s gonna try and get some really
cool photography while it happens I
think I’m just gonna appreciate it but
we will work on that countdown so I want
to maybe take a question from the
audience here
you guys at home of course keep sending
in your questions or comments because
we’re gonna be able to check in with you
throughout the stream and remember you
can do that at national Geographics
Facebook page or you can do it by using
the hashtag NatGeo eclipse and I’ve been
using it so you should use it too all
right so we have one here from Brenda
Troyer harness and she asks what effect
if any will the Eclipse have on Earth’s
tides oh my gosh that’s a great question
but you know what here’s the thing the
moon is in this fluky position anyway
right so it’s a normal day for the moon
and it’s a normal day for the Sun but
there are some numbers that we should
know right that’s true
the earth is let’s see if I get this
right you fact-check me here the earth
is four times larger than the moon right
the Sun is a hundred times larger than
the earth correct so the Sun is actually
400 times larger than the moon right but
the moon is 400 times closer right yeah
than the Sun which means if the Sun 400
times farther away but the moon is 400
times closer to the Sun in this super
fluky coincidence the moon looks like
it’s the same size as the Sun and
completely blocks it it does for now for
now but soon in another 600 million
years the moon actually moves away from
the earth a few inches a year no it does
couple inches that’s amazing so in 600
million years it’ll be so far from the
earth that we won’t be any more eclipses
so it’s good to watch the Eclipse like
so can ya so when we say
once-in-a-lifetime but really it is in
many ways there’s in a lifetime eclipses
are quite common there’s about two a
year they’re usually partial there’s one
total solar eclipse what is it about
like every three or four or five years
every year – yeah yeah it does happen
but the problem is it’s usually over the
ocean right it’s not where you are right
and it’s not usually in your country so
the same eclipse like this Eclipse
that’s happening today or I shouldn’t
say the same Eclipse that gets confusing
and Eclipse passing over the same GPS
coordinate right only happens like every
75 no 375 hours which means if you never
move like if you don’t have the capacity
to travel to see an eclipse this is it
this really is a what’s in a life we do
have another total solar eclipse coming
to the United States and 2024 so that’s
just in what is that seven years a few
more years oh my gosh and it’s gonna
pass over where I grew up in Dallas
Texas cool that’s right I’ll be in Texas
right oh really oh yeah you live in
Houston astronaut so we do have another
opportunity if you’re missing it today
and also maybe we should talk a little
bit about the different ways that you
can look at any clips because right most
of you watching on the stream are
probably not in the US or if you are in
the u.s. you’re not in the path of
totality so you’re seeing a partial
eclipse it’s a very special thing to be
within that path of totality I think you
were telling me earlier one in a
thousand people yeah the I’ve seen the
statistics less than one in a thousand
humans ever get to see a total eclipse
so you’re pretty lucky if you do and
even if you’re in the path of totality
it
it’s cloudy you’re gonna miss it that’s
true some clouds in parts of the country
yeah so hopefully they’ll be able to
enjoy it here on the stream because we
have this wonderful telescope that’s
really powerful with a solar filter
trained on it so you can see it’s so
crazy that you can see sunspots but also
the moon is occluding it and something
that I noticed when I talked to a lot of
people who have seen total solar
eclipses is that you don’t really you
can’t tell that it’s the moon during the
day right because the Sun is so bright
that the moon
Terri’s taking some photos doing this
throughout that the moon it really looks
like this dark disk almost like a hole
in the sky and as the moon actually
covers it up sometimes people get scared
they actually feel like the sky has
ripped open and there’s this hole that’s
coming at them it’s it’s a very visceral
experience I have no idea what I’m gonna
do I might cry I might cry I might
scream I might be afraid and also did
you know that animals act super weird
during they do yeah they don’t know
what’s happening it’s nighttime all of a
sudden and so I was reading up on this
dogs can sometimes get really scared
you’ll hear that birds will roost
they’ll actually go to bed for the night
roosters will cockadoodledoo when the
Sun comes back out because they’re like
what it’s happening but two things that
I found super fascinating apparently
cows don’t notice they just don’t seem
to have a reaction and they found it out
yeah they found this out by doing a lot
of cool citizen science during the
nineteen I think there was an eclipse in
like the 1930s and scientists asked
people to watch their animals and take
notes and write in and tell them what
happened and cows don’t seem to notice
chimpanzees our closest cousins will
look up and actually see what’s happened
in awe without glasses though that’s the
problem
protection that’s right we need to get
the chimps so we do solar glasses we
need to start a new a new nonprofit for
that so crazy animals are gonna act
strange I think people are gonna act
strange you know we’re here in Central
Oregon where there’s a lot of Eclipse
parties going on nearby and Madras
there’s a big tent city basically
happening where a lot of people are
watching
and there’s probably a lot of kind of
discord outside during the Eclipse
because when you’re in close proximity
to a lot of people and you have these
sort of visceral reactions I can’t
imagine the interesting noises people
are gonna make my friend fellow
astronaut Don Pettit is in Salem which
is on the west coast of Oregon and the
Oregon Science Museum is doing an event
with 9,000 people so he’s going to be
helping to host that but we were talking
last night about how he’s gonna film it
and he wants to film it with the noise
so he can hear people’s gasps and
reactions yes okay so I just realized
you that Brenda I didn’t we didn’t fully
answer your question what effect if any
will the Eclipse have on Earth’s tides I
would say don’t quote us on this because
neither but I don’t think it’s going to
have an effect it’s it’s basically a
visual fluke with rooms in the same
position it would be in anyway oh maybe
we can talk a little bit about the
cycles so we mentioned 375 years and
eclipses will pass over the same spot
right although there is a an x marks the
spot place on the map I can’t remember
where it is but if you live in this one
town you actually get to experience both
total oh cool and so let’s talk a little
bit about the soro cycles that’s right
we’re cool what is it every 18 years
every 18 years yeah the clips repeats
itself from a orbital mechanics point of
view and that leads to another question
I’m sure we’re gonna get lots of these
why isn’t there an eclipse every month
because every month the moon goes around
the earth and gets between the Earth and
the Sun yeah but the shadow is so small
so there’s always the moon shadow moon
shadow is somewhere in space all the
time 24/7 but the moon’s orbit is not in
a perfectly aligned plane with the
Earth’s orbit so every month the moon is
near the Sun but it’s usually just a
little bit off above it or below it and
klipse passes just over heads yeah but
we do have like we said a couple of year
like eclipses are actually much more
common than this way they’re just not
common where people all right and
they’re especially not common where
people are over and over and over again
which is why for many people this really
is a once-in-a-lifetime right expiry
and this is amazing because everybody in
America not the continental US yes but
even Hawaii and Alaska are gonna be able
to see at least a partial eclipse which
which is great because it kind of brings
us together I know you know sometimes
you know whatever your politics are
whatever is going on in your life and
there are divisions and there’s
difficulty but when we get to see an
event like this you know something that
really reminds you of how small we are
on the planet how we really share this
planet together and these cosmic
phenomena are not concerned with us
that’s right they have been regardless
it really ties us together
I feel tied together with you I feel
tied together with everybody across the
u.s. everybody across the world who’s
watching this stream right now the
animals all of nature around us we all
get to experience this together yeah
it’s really amazing and you know the
last few months there’s been a lot of
issues going on and this is something
that we can all share and it can be a
positive thing the space station is like
that when I was in space I was with
Russian cosmonauts in an Italian and
Americans and we got along great and we
became great friends still to this day
even though things were happening on
earth you can use these things to kind
of bring you together and I think that
may be the best thing the physics are
interesting the experience is
interesting but hopefully you know
bringing folks together it will be the
most important thing that happens
absolutely and people are getting
together all over the country right now
to celebrate we actually have a photo
here of some National Geographic staff
in Tennessee who are getting ready oh
look at their t-shirts I love it we’re
getting ready for the Eclipse and of
course we are on the early end of this
we are in Oregon and the path of
totality is moving west to east so in
many ways we’re some of the first people
who get to experience this we are very
lucky and my friend and on the TV in
Baltimore Fox 45 the meteorologists sent
me the map and so on the west coast it’s
great and in Tennessee it’s great
weather but in the middle of the country
there may be some clouds and in South
Carolina there may be some it’ll still
get dark out but you won’t be able to
necessarily see the the moon covering up
the Sun and that’s when I say luckily in
2024 again but okay I want to take
another question I think so let’s we’ve
answered this one
see what else we’ve got okay we’ve got
one here from Kathy Evelyn and she says
oh we mentioned this but I think we
really should reheat this would it be
safe to point my phone camera at the
Eclipse and watch it on my screen it
seems like it would be a good hack right
well I don’t have to look directly at it
if I drag it my screen but if you’re
looking at a computer screen that’s safe
but if your eyes are pointed in the
direction of the Sun that might not be
good and it might not be good to keep
your phone pointed at the Sun for a long
period of time you can take pictures of
the Sun that’s fine
but if you just leave it right but if
you’re taking a video like for a long
period of time that might fry your
electronics or melt the camera
especially if you have you know a
telescope or a zoom lens like this or
even binoculars like again I got to
point out these are solar safe I don’t
know if you can see that but these are
solar safe binoculars you can’t it’s too
bright which means that they have this
super dark lens over the orange that’s
cutting out all the radiation that could
be damaging to our eyes and I think
another point that we should mention
what you don’t want to do if you got a
solar filter and you’re really excited
to be able to use that solar filter you
don’t put it between your eye and the
lens that’s closed so you have to put it
between the lens farthest away from you
because this lens is magnifying the
sun’s ray that’s right and it could it
could tear a hole right in your filter
if you put it close to your eye or it
you know it could let some of this
harmful UV rays in yep so the truth is
all of these that the telescope that you
see that’s pointing at the Sun right now
let’s look at that picture again because
it just blows my mind every time that
hello my gosh that’s the Sun you guys
that’s not the moon that is the Sun that
telescope has a giant solar filter on
the large part of the telescope the big
the big lens that’s towards the end and
that’s what’s protecting us and Terry’s
camera that he’s taking photos with
right now
it has a big solar filter on the other
side of the camera try to the front
effingham yeah so we’ve just got to be
really really careful not to hurt our
eyes first that’s more important and
maybe not to destroy all of our fans all
right I want to see if there’s another
okay here’s one from Jessica Aguilar she
asks can you turn your back to the
Eclipse and put a mirror in front of you
like you were going to take a selfie and
in the mirror well a mirror would
actually just reflect that that’s the
way a lot of telescopes works with
mirror Sameer will be dangerous if you
watched a reflection maybe in glass that
would be one thing or you could do a
pinhole camera this is really cool so
let’s maybe we can talk through we don’t
have the supplies here but we can talk
through it if you wanted to make a
pinhole camera it’s really really easy
right you need a box a box a cardboard
or sorry a cereal box is actually really
because it’s right side and so what
you’re gonna do is you’re increase your
box yes you need a screwdriver foil is
helpful and a pair of scissors and also
some white paper because I think this is
the important part
so you’ll trace the bottom of the cereal
box on a piece of white paper and you’ll
cut out a sliver that’s the same size as
the bottom of the cereal box and you’ll
stuff that down inside also you should
empty the cereal so that so the paper
the white paper is gonna be what you’re
looking at you need that nice reflective
surface but it’s not a mirror that’s you
reflective and then you’re gonna cut two
holes in either side of the top of the
cereal box you’ll cover one of those
holes with foil but you leave the other
one open the other one is your
viewfinder you look through it the one
that you cover foil that’s when the a
screwdriver and or pin right hence
pinhole camera poke a small hole in it
poke that hole that’s gonna collect the
sunlight it’s going to actually reflect
the the image of the clips down on the
white paper below and you can see it
right looking through that viewfinder so
what you’ll see what we’re seeing here
through the telescope which is a true
image you’ll see a perfect reflection of
that in your pinhole camera so worry not
if you do not have Eclipse glasses you
still get to experience they can team
moon is winning right now team moon is
yeah gaming is losing so totality is
getting closer and closer to where we
are right now I’m just gonna open up my
app so first contact started at 9:06
that’s Pacific time right here in Oregon
it started at 906 it’s currently 956 so
we have been first contact maybe we
should explain that because we use those
terms a lot first their fourth contact
that’s right these are important kind of
astronomy terms that everybody uses
that’s right so if you’re looking at the
Sun with your approved sunglasses and
the moon is out there when the moon
first touches the edge of the Sun that’s
called first contact
then the moon moves across right now if
you see if you’re looking at the feed
the moon is kind of taking a bite out of
the Sun and when the the complete moon
covers up the Sun entirely that’s called
second contact so that’s really the
beginning of totality they’re in contact
that’s right and then as it moves across
the Sun once totality ends that’s called
third contact and that’s only about a
minute and a half later here where we
are some places it’ll be seconds for the
longest in America it will be just over
two minutes
that’s third contact and then the moon
will move away the team’s Sun will start
to be winning again yep and when the
moon finally moves away from the side of
the Sun that’s called the fourth fourth
quarter and so we’re we’re in between
first and second correct right now and
it’s during first between first and
second and between third and fourth
contact where you have to use that ISO
approved solar protection for your eyes
in between second and third which is
totality if you’re lucky enough to be in
the path of totality that’s when you can
actually remove your Eclipse glasses and
marvel right in what is happening above
and the truth is a lot of times when we
think about the Eclipse and we see
images of the Eclipse these are images
that are taken through telescopes or
taken through zoom cameras and we’re
really looking at the Sun and the moon
with no context but part of the joy and
the awe of in Eclipse is actually not
looking at the Sun but looking around
you it’s going to be dark as night right
it’s going to be cold and the color
apparently of the sky of the ground of
your skin is a color that’s almost
indescribable because this is a type of
quote-unquote night that we’ve never
seen it’s not normal night right I’m
that’s what I’m most excited about to
see what the colorist here in Oregon it
is there is a forest fire nearby here so
there’s a little bit of dust in here
it’s still a beautiful day so I think
that dust is gonna make the colors
really maybe orange I don’t know we’ll
see I’m excited to see that absolutely
so guys I’m really excited because we
are able to get on the line right now
with Andrew Fazekas he is in Myrtle
Beach so totality is is not as nice for
him there in Myrtle Beach but he is a
NatGeo journalist
she writes about this stuff all the time
and he’s gonna be able to share some
interesting stuff with us hey Andrew can
you hear us
you bet I can yeah happy Eclipse day how
you doing buddy oh very good very good
I’m actually on the beach I I’m actually
south of Myrtle Beach now I’m in the
Isle of palm
I made the trek down here it’s about an
hour-and-a-half drive south and just
very close to Charleston and right in
the path of totality and what I’m in the
middle of like thousands of people I
can’t believe it it’s like and they just
keep coming onto the beach I’m like I’m
really stoked because you could feel the
energy around around here amazing that’s
incredible so how is the cloud cover
looking do you think you’re gonna have a
clear shot it’s not gonna be clear
that’s for sure I can tell you that
there’s a lot of cloud there’s a high
level high clouds we’re hoping for like
this microclimate effects on the along
the coast here and we can’t see I can’t
see the Sun through this high deck of
clouds so I could save the way it is we
should be able to see the Sun and
definitely darken I mean there’s no
question about that
absolutely so Andrew I wanted to ask you
about an incredible opportunity that
individual Eclipse viewers have you know
a lot of us were lucky enough to get our
hands on a pair of Eclipse glasses that
we can use to view it but you know once
the Eclipse is over what do you do with
those things well that’s right so some
people are thinking well I might keep my
glasses for the next Eclipse but that’s
in seven years in 2024 and the polymer
that that that are used in the solar
eclipse classes aren’t really able to
last that long okay and so so there are
about two three years lifetime so if
you’re planning on foot anyway is just
not gonna not gonna work they’re very
inexpensive suits that you can always go
out and buy that for the next month so
what’s a suggestion that astronomers
Without Borders this amazing nonprofit
which by the way this full disclosure
I’m also involved in because I love this
this idea of why not instead of wasting
your glasses donate them to school
in Asia and South America that will
experience their own totality full
eclipse in 2019 and so this is a great
way that folks can can recycle their
glasses and have another people on the
other side of the world enjoy this
amazing moment that we’re all going to
experience today that is such an
incredible opportunity you know I have
some paper glasses I have these really
cool eclipse shades that I’m rocking
right now and I would love to be able to
contribute to the education of some
school children in parts of the world
where maybe it’s not so easy to get
their hands on this so you said
astronomers Without Borders that’s who
we can donate our glasses to exactly so
astronomers Without Borders dot o-r-g
org online you can go and visit them
they’re going to be announcing very soon
where and when to do the hold onto your
glasses just for a little bit so they’re
just hold on to it and we’ll be sending
out instructions on where you can send
your glasses into and we’ll have
corporate partners will help us gather
them from across the country and we’re
hoping to just send them on mass
somewhere else so they can get reused
with love it’s going to be an awesome
opportunity to inspire youngsters into
stem right I mean that the Eclipse is an
amazing inspiration that’ll spark you
know a whole generation potentially of
engineers Sciences astronauts right
absolutely and guys for a lot of you
it’s the first day back at school so
what a great thing to do during your
first day back hey Indra I got one more
question I want to ask you before we go
you write for National Geographic and I
read your writing all the time it
teaches me so much about astronomical
phenomena I would love to know what was
your favorite thing that you learned and
then wrote about when you were preparing
for the Eclipse for me it’s the
firsthand stories of animal behavior it
is absolutely incredible how nature
responds to an eclipse a totality
particular that only lasts our precious
few minutes it animals do respond
everything from whales dolphins to
small insects ants and even spiders
some spiders destroy their their webs
during those precious few moments
exactly yeah so so there’s there’s a lot
of things and there’s actually a cool
app out there called life responds it’s
through an AI naturalist expire the
kanay California Academy of Sciences and
they if you download this free app yeah
they’re collecting your stories from a
cost across the country of what you’re
seeing in the wildlife around you could
be ants or it could be Birds whatever
whatever you’re seeing and this will be
used by scientists by behavioral
ecologist to understand how wildlife
really respond
that’s incredible guys you should
contribute your knowledge if your dog is
freaking out let them know Andrew thank
you so much for checking in with us you
bet and I wish everyone clear skies and
happy eclipsing to you as well well guys
if you are just joining us on the live
feed I’m Cara Santa Maria here with
astronaut former astronaut Terry Virts
this is kind of my most special happiest
day of my life and we’re here in
Terrebonne Oregon viewing totality where
we’re getting closer and closer to a
totality we’re in a partial eclipse
right now we are here with National
Geographic and Airbnb we’re live on
Facebook on periscope and on YouTube and
we are taking your questions and
comments you just can reach out through
the National Geographic Facebook page or
on twitter using the hashtag nat geo
eclipse it is 10:06 a.m. Pacific Time
reality yeah in 13 minutes right can you
think of any other cool Eclipse things
that you learned when you’re studying up
well well I would say if you’re on the
west coast of America right now you’re
in a partial eclipse yeah so it’s it’s
here and but don’t do this without a
pair of these you have some approved
glasses you can actually see the Sun is
amazing it’s like it’s not it’s not
normal I’m gonna look up with my
approved binoculars right and the true
says I’m yeah oh my gosh it looks like a
crescent moon but it looks like about
right the Sun looks like the moon right
now a little bit cold like I think I’m
gonna be participating a little the
darkness has gotten a little bit darker
it’s kind of gray I actually noticed
that to you the camera guys here have
had to change their their iris because
even on the the telescope you notice
that it was getting darker and darker
and they have to open up that iris a
little bit right that’s crazy that’s
really cool how do people send us their
questions so they can send us their
questions at national Geographics
Facebook page okay and they can also
send us questions on Twitter using the
hashtag Nat Geo eclipse okay yeah so
we’ve got so many cool ones okay I’ve
got one here from Charlotte
Teague Charlotte to you I hope I’m
pronouncing your name right and
Charlotte asks when was the last time
that this happened Charlotte that’s a
more complicated question than you might
then you might know I think the easiest
answer to that question is that the last
time that a solar eclipse that had
totality a total solar eclipse happened
in the continental United States was in
1979 that’s right and so before you were
born
yeah for many of us watching today that
was before we were born and even for
many people who were born then who
didn’t get a chance to see it yeah right
this is their first opportunity which is
incredible it is this is my first time
ever seeing it and there’s millions or
tens of millions of people this will be
the first time ever and maybe only time
ever to experience it in 1979 there were
no live streams right so for a lot of
people this is the first time that even
if they’re not in totality they’ve been
able to tune in with us right and
experience this once-in-a-lifetime event
I’ve heard this is gonna be the most
photographed event in human history so
we’ll see if that’s true or not but
everybody seems to be talking about it
it’s true we were talking this morning
about you know is this gonna be the
biggest astronomical event is this gonna
be the most the most photographed event
at all and I was like no but the Mars
rover landing it was awesome and he was
like Kara we’re nerds yeah even if
you’re not interested in science and
have no idea
you can’t miss this if you’re in the
path to tell totality and you’re awake
you’re going to notice that the Sun
disappeared for a few minutes absolutely
and the truth of the matter is we can
get really heady with the science and I
think we will after totality we’re
getting so close because so I don’t want
to start a crazy conversation but after
reality I’d love to talk a little bit
about general relativity I’d love to
talk about Einstein and about some of
the incredible predictions that were
actually proven by being able to observe
a total solar eclipse but there’s a big
spectrum if you’re viewing it total
solar eclipse you can really appreciate
the deep incredible telling science
that’s happening but you can also think
of it just the simply we’re here there’s
a thing in front of a thing that’s all
that’s happening during a total solar
eclipse the moon is here the Sun is
there the moon is blocking the Sun they
happen to align in such a way that to
our own eyes they look like they’re the
same size it’s a shadow it’s a shadow
it’s just a big shadow and the the cone
that central part of the shadow is
called the Umbra we are slowly going to
be within that Umbra right now we are in
the penumbra which is the shadow that’s
that’s around it whereas if the u.s. is
going to be you can hear people
squealing in the back probably didn’t
pick that starting to get dark and
people are starting to scream to freak
out a little and here’s the thing if you
read a lot about eclipses and the
personal experiences that people have
had when viewing eclipses their response
is really very for some people this is a
religious experience for others it’s
just a really cool sciency thing that
they get to geek out about and for yet
others people actually get scared you
know
well imagine if you didn’t know this if
you couldn’t predict that it was coming
hundreds of years ago or thousands of
years ago you would have no idea people
made up mythology to explain dragons
eating the Sun and that kind of thing
and so unless you know it’s coming it
could really be frightening and for some
people even knowing it’s coming it’s you
you get that cognitive dissonance
we know it’s coming right but I don’t
think we really are prepared I think
anybody can be truly prepared I am
shivering it is getting pretty cold we
are getting really really close it’s
10:00
11 rise so that means that we have only
seven minutes eight minutes seven and a
half until totality coming up and I
don’t know I mean I know what to expect
in my mind but emotionally I’m not sure
how prepared I’m gonna be for this I may
cry I just have to warm you and I won’t
be able to touch up my makeup so you may
have a raccoon host during the rest of
the livestream which is fine that’s fine
right it’s okay okay so we’ve got a
Twitter photo here and this is a nice
panoramic that some people took while
they were hanging out Oh Michael
it’s so stunning and of course the Sun
is still high in the sky there but soon
it will be completely darkened right by
the Eclipse which is just incredible can
we check in on the livestream again you
guys because I want to see how close we
really are is that well that’s stunning
that totality is already happening over
the Pacific Ocean
and it it’s racing at us at 1,700 miles
an hour and of course it’s 10:00 12:00
a.m. where we are here and I want to
just make sure it’s 10:00 11:00
according to my according to my iPhone
and that’s where my solar timer is so
it’s 10:00 11:00 right here I’m getting
texts from friends and that means that
we are you know getting close to the
countdown that second contact is at 10
19 and 44 seconds if we’re going to be
because it’s my birthday everybody in
America now knows when my birthday is
it’s just turned to 1012 so guys we’re
getting really close and what I’d like
to do is as soon as totalities about to
hit I’m gonna do a little countdown I’m
probably gonna stand up from my chair
and I’m gonna just look up in awe I know
that Terry you’re gonna try and get some
really beautiful photographs let’s talk
about some of the things we might see
during totality well the first thing you
don’t want to look really until it’s
actually totality because even at 99%
covered the Sun can still be dangerous
so don’t actually stare at it until it’s
actually fully eclipsed but in the
seconds but immediately before the moon
covers the Sun there are two things
called diamond ring phenomenon and
Baily’s beads
and the diamond ring is called that
because it looks like a diamond ring
you’ll see an orange glow around the
moon and then when there’s still a
little bit of Sun up it’s a really
bright white thing so it looks like a
golden diamond ring with a big white
diamond itself so it’s kind of like when
we’re basically starting totality but
it’s just off kilter just before the
totality at the diamond ring and then as
the moon passes in front of the Sun the
moon is not a perfectly round object
there’s craters and so there’s a bunch
of divots on the moon and as the sun’s
light kind of filters and flows through
those craters it makes an uneven shape
so if you looked at the shadow it’s
almost like a hexagon or a polygon on
the earth it’s not a round thing and so
the moon’s craters create these things
called Baily’s beads and they only last
for fractions of a second or maybe a
second or two so lots millions of people
will have their camera set on high-speed
yeah firing off their pictures trying to
get that perfect daily speed picture oh
and here’s an important point if you are
trying to do some Astro photography or
some solar photography I should say turn
off your flash make sure your flashes
off otherwise you’re gonna be really not
happy with the way your flash will not
light up the moon no it will not no well
not so looking for that diamond ring
phenomenon looking for those Baily’s
beads I’ve also heard about an
incredible phenomenon that are called
shadow bands and it doesn’t always
happen but sometimes you see this
banding on the ground and scientists
still don’t really know what causes are
but they look like snakes and there have
been historical reports of them being so
vivid that children will try to catch
them right it’s just incredible I can
see oh look at this stunning photo that
was taken oh gosh I know it’s not oh my
director just told me that’s live that’s
not a stunning photo that’s actually us
right now
isn’t it funny the the Sun looks so
strange it is a weird pattern yeah that
pattern actually reminds me of this
beautiful geodesic dome that we have
behind us here this was built for two
lucky winners and it was it was built by
Airbnb and so in conjunction with NASA
National Geographic there was a
competition where two lucky winners got
to spend the night in this geodesic dome
and they got to do some nighttime
viewing with the nation’
Geographic photographer and an
astronomer and now they are up in an
airplane you guys chasing the Eclipse
trying to get in some of those first
images of totality I can’t even believe
it can you see that it’s gotten dark
it’s got dark and cold it’s incredible I
know I’m shivering a little bit it’s
gotten dark and cold and you can kind of
tell even from this wide shot the Sun
still gleaming from behind the moon it’s
bright enough that even that sliver is
giving you all of those lovely rays but
look at the telescope here we are
literally three minutes away from
reality it is incredibly clear I think
we’re at the point where I kind of want
to stand up there come to scream people
are screaming you can hear them in the
background
prepare for shadow band observation guys
we are getting so close that we’re gonna
have a countdown in just a minute and
I’m gonna stand up and actually look so
I might be turning my back to you a
little bit if you come back to see but
oh my gosh Terry you have to see this
the Sun looks like a little fingernail
that’s amazing you guys this is
incredible it’s just incredible it’s
still bright enough that it’s it’s
lighting up earth where we are but it’s
starting to look a little bit more like
like dusk right no it’s definitely it’s
definitely fun is setting but the sun’s
high up in the sky it’s great to me it
looks great it doesn’t look like normal
like dusk is kind of orange and pink
it’s not like that it’s more of a
beautiful because you know usually the
reason that dusk is so pink is that the
Sun is setting low on horizon in lots of
atmosphere atmosphere away an atmosphere
turns things kind of pinkish oranges and
since the Sun is high in the sky we’re
seeing it through the typical apps right
you don’t have the refraction that you
get through them so normally only red
light makes it through to us at dusk but
right now all the lights so it’s a we’re
definitely a weirdly colored desk yes
it’s spooky it’s I mean there’s like a
Halloween vibe going on and I know that
you guys can’t see it because all of the
cameras right now are trained on Terry
and myself or on the the wide view or on
the the sunnat’ telescope but all of the
crew everybody
who is here with us for this incredible
event than that geo guys the Airbnb guys
back here everybody has their their sun
protection on they’re looking up and off
in the distance you can hear people
hooting and hollering because I can see
a lot of smiles too and a lot of awe and
amazement yeah this is freaking out I’m
gonna be honest I’m kind of freaking out
it is it’s almost there 17 local time we
are two minutes away from totality right
now and we are so close look at that
live stream you can barely see the Sun
peeking out from behind the moon it
looks like a tiny little crescent and
it’s like the opposite of what we would
generally see oh my gosh people are
howling at the moon we have something
like cancer penis that’s happening out
there vocabulary word for you some
werewolves are very excited about what’s
happening the moon is winning Terry T
moon is winning right now moon who’s on
Team moon I think I’m joining team moon
for sure although if it were like this
all the time there would be no life on
Earth let’s be honest it’s so dark
outside can you guys this is crazy I
know I’m so cold
Terry’s gonna let me wear his NASA
jacket I’m freaking out I’m freaking out
okay this is the best day of my life
officially I Debbie we need to have a
countdown a total solar eclipse and 30
seconds okay 10:18 local time so we are
not quite to countdown but we my app is
actually telling me prepare for second
contact prepare for second contact which
means that we are super super super
close I am going to keep all of my
viewing equipment really close by I’m
looking up with my Solar binoculars it’s
amazing it’s just incredible you know
what I’m actually gonna move over to my
solar glasses so that I no longer have
to hold anything in my hands there’s
just a little bit of Sun left just a
little it’s getting depressing it’s
getting dark my goodness we’re starting
to even see totality look there is a
diamond ring happening right now
Wow there is a diamond ring happening
and we’re not even quite at nope we’re
there we’re in totality yeah guys we’re
there
we’re
totality we’re in the diamond ring right
now and as that diamond ring starts to
fade fade fade were here here come the
Bailey beads now we can look at it oh my
god there it is Wow
you can see the stars you can see the
planets oh my god you guys I’m actually
crying this is the most I’ve ever seen
in my entire life so you can see the
sun’s corona yes
that is amazing its massive from behind
and we get to experience this for a full
minute and a half I’m just gonna soak it
in look at the planet so you can
actually see I know that is incredible
this is amazing Wow Oh
Terry’s letting me look at it through
his zoom lens on his camera I’m losing
my mind
this is unbelievable it’s dark outside
it’s there’s a little red dot on the
right side I wonder if that’s Mars the
light yeah it’s her own oh yeah that
might be a Bailey’s beard coming through
yes around the moon and here you go I’ll
give you this back another thing that’s
an incredible phenomenon is that you
have a 360 degree sunset right now if
you look all the way around you you
still see the warmth of this right this
is something you’d never ever see on
earth except during a total solar
eclipse that is right there’s not just
one guys there’s a hole in the sky
behind the hell and it looks like we’re
just coming out of totality we’re back
into that diamond ring now so I have to
put on my eye protection
it’s creeping back through
unbelievable Wow dream
that right there is the diamond ring
phenomenon we were talking about we’re
coming out of third contact right now hi
I’m so glad it’s a jar it’s so dark that
you can’t see the tears it’s just
incredible shadows on the there’s a man
type guys we’re actually in front of a
really famous rock climbing area and
there are people up on the ridge they
climbed the rock to be able to enjoy the
total solar eclipse there’s even
somebody who’s tightrope walking along
this monkey head rock in order to see it
in all its glory oh my gosh
so now we are in 3rd contact officially
we’re on the other side of the solar
there’s our rock climbers you can see
two of them on the rocks and then you
can see one on the tightrope he enjoyed
the solar eclipse from the tightrope and
can you see the crowd underneath
cheering him on okay we’re talking about
having a once-in-a-lifetime experience
what about that guy congratulations to
him for pulling that off that is
incredible just incredible that was
amazing and it’s starting to warm up
again it’s starting to get bright again
guys we are here if you’re just tuning
in
you just missed totality whoa we are
here live on Facebook on YouTube and on
periscope with National Geographic and
Airbnb celebrating this momentous
once-in-a-lifetime experience I mean you
can probably still hear that my voice is
shaking this was I I knew I wasn’t going
to be prepared for this I knew I wasn’t
going to be prepared for this and I’m
still a little shaken up I’m still
crying also we go yeah we need Terry
Virts former astronaut former Space
Shuttle commander has allowed me to wear
his astronaut jacket so this is a doubly
exciting day for me
so we protect me yeah we never have our
sun protection out because we are fully
into third contact what that means is
that
totality has passed the moon has passed
in front of the Sun and we are now back
into a partial eclipse and it’s a tiny
a tiny little sliver you can see it here
on our live feed from the telescope we
would love for you if you were in this
part of the country and you also saw
totality we would love for you to send
us your photos using the hashtag nat geo
eclipse send us your comments on
facebook as well
I’d love to read some of those live on
air and maybe answer a few more of your
questions I’m calming down a little bit
how about you there were so many things
that just happened it happened like that
there’s no way that was a minute that
was like five seconds I wish that we had
that experience where time Stood Still
yes instead of accelerating so we told
during space shuttle launches we would
tell people just stand back and enjoy it
and taking pictures is fun so if you’re
gonna if you’re of where we are right
now and you’re going to be in totality I
recommend take your pictures and then
put the camera down and just enjoy it
that was amazing seeing the corona yeah
like you could see the sun’s atmosphere
guys here’s the day the sun’s not moving
too much during totality so if you put
your camera on a tripod and you set it
to auto take and let it do the work for
you I would just stand back and
experience it so let’s recap a few of
the things that yes that was incredible
whoo we saw the diamond ring phenomenon
we did we saw I think we saw some of
those Baily’s beads I mean they weren’t
to sing wrong I have to look through the
pictures and it was so fast day became
night yes which was very strange
the birds went crazy people were
screaming people were screaming crying
the corona of the Sun was it was you
could see these plumes of gas yeah just
shooting off and one thing that a lot of
people don’t realize I didn’t realize it
the corona of the Sun is like way
freakin hotter than the Sun at yourself
right because of some sort of magnetic
phenomenon for this to be superheated
and you could see banding you could see
the beauty of the banding with your
naked eye during bright allottee another
two planets you can see planets in the
sky you guys day became night you could
see the stars in the plants and another
thing that you see and if you haven’t
yet hit totality prepare yourself for
this and don’t forget to look do a 360
where you are there’s a 360 degree
sunrise sunset I don’t know what to call
it but you
still see the glow of the Sun along the
horizon right normally sunset there’s
just you know red and pink there and one
song but it was like all around us yeah
is absolutely stunning okay
I have all of my stuff in my chair I’m
gonna reset a little bit cuz I want to
see if any of you have reached out and
sent us your comments and your questions
and oh look at the beautiful geo dome
right now you guys it’s so pretty
we’re so lucky to be here in Central
Oregon with National Geographic with
with Airbnb with that stunning geo dome
behind us and I gotta keep my Eclipse
glasses close by because I’m not done
watching no quite yet but let’s see if
yeah okay we’ve got the telescope view
in front of us too and I’m just gonna
check and see if there any new oh we’ve
got some nope we’ve got those photos no
I want to see some questions oh this is
an interesting question all right we’ve
got a question here from somebody who
doesn’t have a username which is fine is
there a chance in the future that
eclipses will be caused by other planets
and that’s a question from Kazakhstan
will eclipses be caused by oh that’s a
great question
there are eclipses that happen all the
time around the solar system because
many planets have moons the problem with
planets is they’re so far away from
other planets that the shadow that they
form is so small it would never make it
to another planet and if they ever did
it would probably be really bad here on
earth if Jupiter were close enough to
cast a shadow so the planets are a
little too far away to completely
obscure the Sun but there is an
incredible phenomenon called the transit
of Venus yes I actually saw that I think
was 2004 using a pinhole camera I took
the piece of cardboard made a little
pinhole and you can see it on a piece of
paper yes you can actually see Venus
transiting across the surface right
scientists use use those measurements
that they take during the transit to
learn all sorts of things about our
solar system but it’s teeny tiny right
it actually looks like have you guys
seen these incredible photos of the
space station yes
traveling across the surface of the
it looks like that so we had one of the
favorite things I did in space was film
an IMAX movie called beautiful planet
and our director of photography James
neihaus actually came out to California
had a special camera and took a picture
of me flying in front of the Sun onboard
the space station
like a thousand frames a second a really
specialized car but that’s pretty cool
so so if you were on Mars you could get
a transit of the earth you could see the
earth move in front of the Sun but that
would be pretty rare and not that common
of a thing to see but I did read that on
Mars you have a solar eclipse really
it’s almost everyday like really common
because the thing is Mars this moons are
tiny yeah those and Deimos are really
close they’re small and because they’re
so small they can be close to Mars to
stay in orbit and so there’s a small
shadow going across the surface all the
time yeah so even though we won’t have
any solar eclipses that are caused by
other planets there are solar eclipses
on other planets caused by their own
moons quite often it is so when we
finally send people to Mars we won’t
have to have special national geographic
coverage
oh my gosh I love it so much oh we’ve
got another question here this one is
from Stacey Renee and she asks actually
she says my students are wondering hi
students if it’s cloudy out does that
affect the temperature drop hashtag no
geo eclipse hmm so it wouldn’t be as
severe or significant but I still think
there would be a temperature drop just
because the Sun is this occurring that’s
a great question I’ve never bet you it
it really depends on how heavy the cloud
cover is right how sometimes when the
cloud cover is so incredibly thick you
just don’t get much of the Sun correct
through it’s already kind of dark
outside it’s on a stormy day and you’re
cold anyway I bet you in that case it
wouldn’t have much of an effect and
where we are in the high desert of
Eastern Oregon the temperature is
completely dependent on the Sun this
morning it was cold and as the Sun came
up it warmed up but if you’re in a place
like Houston where I’m from it doesn’t
matter where the Sun is that’s hot all
the time that kind of depends on where
you are and how much of your temperature
depends on the Sun or now yeah we were
it was dramatic here in Central Oregon
when the Sun was blocked by the moon
during totality
I was freezing I actually got to borrow
yeah Terri’s astronaut jacket he let me
borrow it you can have this back now if
you’re not careful I will walk off with
that so yeah Stacey I hope that answered
your question you know what Terry I’m
reminded of of some parallels between
the total solar eclipse and some of the
experiences that you’ve been telling me
about being there during shuttle
launches right yeah that was the
interesting to talk about the day
turning into night which is what we just
experienced by the way that was I’m
still kind of on a little bit of a rush
that was amazing but at a shuttle launch
when I launched both my lashes were at
4:00 in the morning which is a great
time but I highly recommend that if you
ever get a chance to go into space 4:00
in the morning so great keep that yeah
born and go to space on my first launch
there was a thin deck of clouds and when
the shuttle engines lit up and the solid
rocket boosters the big white rock had
slid up
nighttime turned in today and for you
know hundreds of tens or hundreds of
miles all of a sudden it was daytime and
I love that people post their home
movies on YouTube and you can Google
sts-130 launched and people are
screaming and cheering because nighttime
turn it a day
and so here we are at the Eclipse yeah
daytime turned into night and people
were screaming and cheering and getting
goosebumps it
it’s a weird parallel but it was really
set like the off yeah and right time of
turned to day and quotes because it
wasn’t from the Sun it was from the
bright rocket right especially because
we had clouds were reflected and it was
amazing that’s incredible and of course
this phenomenon of sort of a hole being
ripped in the sky yes you know for a lot
of people and for me too when I was
watching that Eclipse it looked like
there was a hole it did with the Sun’s
corona it looked like somebody had shot
a hole because the moon doesn’t look
like the moon shadow yes it you couldn’t
tell that was the moon it was just a
hole on the Sun and of course when the
shuttle launches it sounds like a hole
being ripped in the fit the closest you
could be was about three and a half four
miles away in it so it takes you know
ten or tens of seconds for the sound to
get there because the speed of sound is
about a thousand feet per second and but
when it finally gets there there’s this
ripping and this violent shaking
your chest you could feel it and it
sounds like the sky as being ripped in
half and just seeing the Eclipse it was
a similar I mean of different reasons
obviously but it was a similar emotional
experience I’m you guys I’m still
shaking alright so I think we have an
Instagram photo here of some cameras can
we pull that up some cameras that were
set up at Jackson Hole where people are
we’re preparing to watch the Eclipse I
think we can pull that up if not it’s
not a big deal maybe we’ll be able to
get to that oh there we go
I love this guys I love how this event
brings so many amateur astronomer so
many everyday people who are getting
excited about science together in order
to experience this monumental occasion
this is something we can all enjoy and
experience together it doesn’t matter if
you’re an amateur astronomer or a
scientist or have no idea about what a
moon is beginneth it’s something that
brings us all together which is pretty
amazing yeah absolutely
oh my goodness here we are about to
break something huge we are getting the
first photos of our crew who is up in
the plane taking a picture of the solar
eclipse Wow yeah over the Pacific in
order to get it before it came to us and
it doesn’t looks it looks like they’re
in space yeah so you guys can see this
360 phenomena I’m talking about we’re at
the horizon you see the glow of the Sun
but up in the sky it’s utter blackness
40,000 feet right there in the air where
they took this photo an odd perspective
that that’s what it looks like from
space especially that blue band you can
always see not always but at the right
Sun lighting you can see that blue band
and if it were not for the airplane wing
you can tell me that was a picture from
the space station and I believe it that
is incredible and what an incredible
contest these two lucky winners you guys
won a contest that was sponsored by air
B&B
and National Geographic and you can see
in the background right here this
beautiful geodesic dome it’s all lit up
by the Sun by the partial eclipse
the Sun so they got to spend the night
in this geodesic dome they got to do
some night viewing of the sky with a
NatGeo photographer with an astronomer
and then this morning they went up in a
private plane and they chased the
Eclipse so let’s talk a little bit about
that chasing the Icarus obviously they
can’t catch it cuz how fast is the
Eclipse move it’s going about 1700 miles
an hour yeah I don’t think we have
airplanes so yeah they’re in a Gulf
Stream right now so it’s probably going
about 500 miles an hour although we were
reading last night in 1972 the Concorde
which was a supersonic passenger
airplane went twice the speed of sound
chased an eclipse across Africa and they
got over 70 minutes of totality minute
and of course NASA just right now is
actually chasing it what kind of plan
it’s called a WB 57 it’s a old Air Force
airplane from the 1950s and 60s that
nASA has repurposed for science you can
put all different kinds of instruments
that look at earth or a look at the sky
and right now they have special
instruments that are looking at the
telescope and the advantage of being an
airplane is you can fly to the east and
and not completely keep up with it but
spend more time in the shadow then we
just had five seconds in the show we had
a minute and a half of totality are
canta and here’s where we are right now
in third contacts that were in a partial
cuts on the other side of totality we
have already seen the total eclipse so
we had a minute and a half our our
contest winners up in the plane I think
are getting about four minutes maybe
three and a half they were saying only
an extra 20 or 30 seconds so anywhere on
the ground yeah I take it anywhere on
the ground in the United States you’re
gonna get if you’re in the path of
totality anywhere from a couple seconds
to just over two minutes right
so they got a leg up on anybody on the
ground but these NASA planes that are
getting close to seven minutes they’ll
get in multiple minutes yeah that’s
which is amazing amazing right oh my
gosh can I see that picture from the
plane again I would love to see I’m
dying that’s amazing this is incredible
incredible and Terry are you gonna post
some of your photos after the stream so
that we can get a look at them I am I’m
trying to do it now we’ll see how the
Wi-Fi comes
is going for my camera so you’re Astro
Astro teri on Twitter and Astro
underscore teri on Instagram great and I
need to be also tweeting and facebooking
a lot of Eclipse data throughout the day
I’m at Cara Santa Maria on Twitter and
I’m at facebook.com slash science Cara
but of course this amazing experience
that we’re doing that we’re having today
this stream that’s hosted it’s going to
be or it is right now on national
Geographics Facebook page so reach out
on National Geographic tell us what’s
going on in your neck of the woods and
you can also reach out on twitter using
the hashtag nat geo eclipse we are here
with National Geographic and Airbnb and
we are so lucky to be in such a
beautiful part of the country
experiencing the awe and wonder that is
this once-in-a-lifetime event I’ve never
experienced anything like that that was
really powerful spacewalks I have been
yes but this was a unique experience
I’ve never experienced anything like
that you guys that’s a quote okay that’s
a quote I want to see that trending on
Twitter right now he’s never experienced
anything like this yeah that’s true
it’s just incredible it’s just
incredible yeah
alright I’m hoping that a few more of
your comments are able to come in soon
I’m wired up with you but of course the
Wi-Fi is not incredible out here in the
middle of the high desert let’s see
where we are
do we are we going to be able to check
in with any other of our National
Geographic science writers any of our
correspondents on the ground okay so
we’re trying to establish some
connections right now with some other
folks that are on the ground so that we
can chat with them i teed this up before
we didn’t get a chance to talk about it
all right we’re about to bone up a
little bit on general relativity that’s
right yes some of the science yeah
so one of the amazing things that we
just experienced when the Sun
disappeared t moon was winning for a
couple minutes but I think team Suns
back on the Oh team on the office teams
that is for sure back up I’m just gonna
put on my super cool Eclipse shades one
more time that’s right and take a look
it’s so weird because it’s like the
opposite it’s like it’s like a crescent
the Sun it’s like Oh
Crescent Sun it’s orange orange yes so
one of the things that we saw you could
see planets mm-hmm and back in 1919 yeah
right soon after mr. Einstein had
decided or had come up with this general
and theory of relativity they wanted to
test the hypothesis that gravity could
bend the light of stars and so during an
eclipse they were able to look at a star
that was really near the Sun normally
you can’t see the star cuz it’s too
bright but during an eclipse it blocked
the sun’s light so they could see where
the star was only the star was a little
bit not where it should have been and
that was because the gravity from the
Sun was bending the light of the star so
the star didn’t actually move but where
it looked to us move because the Sun was
like a big lens out there that kind of
bent the light and then that just proved
that Einstein was right and that
relativity was true yeah and so you know
if you think about it prior to
Einstein’s really groundbreaking theory
that a lot of people didn’t really
believe at first people thought that
gravity was a force like there’s a
physical force that an attractive force
that’s pulling and we sometimes talk
about it that way in a Newtonian sense
in order to understand it a more kind of
elementary level but the truth is as I’m
xym posited gravity is actually just
what happens when space-time is shifted
gets worse though space time is this
fabric that’s out there they’re
inextricably linked and when there are
large large objects they physically warp
the space-time around them so he was
saying guys if the Sun goes out and
we’re able to see all of the stars that
are right really close to the Sun we
should see some warping we should we
should have take their measurements
during the Eclipse right just a little
bit different right then then how they
are at night but actually beyond that
things like time change things like your
mass changes and your size change too
and you know and I know this because
when I was in space I urged seven
milliseconds less than everybody else on
earth yes I’m younger than I would have
otherwise been you might have noticed
you know you went back in time also wait
so you’re really go back in time but
time slowed down slow down right that’s
a better rate of
so not only did time slowdown for you
you grew I did grow but that wasn’t that
wasn’t from relativity from a lack of
gravity you know all astronauts get
taller and I was finally I was 6 feet
tall while I was in space we have it we
have a tape measure on the wall you
could like you know 6 feet tall and then
within a couple hours back on earth
gravity was one again that must you must
feel so heavy when you first land you
feel very heavy after my first flight I
was sitting there getting the Space
Shuttle powered off had probably been 30
minutes finally it was shut down and it
was time for me to get out and a fellow
astronaut came in and I went to I
reached him like my helmet and I was
like oh be careful this helmet weighs
500 but after a day or two you’re back
to normal but the first day you’re dizzy
and heavy so how many hours did you
spend in space over seven months over
seven months seven months times 24 times
you were a math major
I was but how many hours or minutes I
should say did you spend on Evo doing a
spacewalk so this my spacewalks were
over nineteen hours I did I did three
different spacewalks and of course most
of the photos that you all of the photos
that you took in space we’re taken from
within the ISS but you’re taken how many
total over 300,000 300,000 and you can
see here your new book view from above
that’s right that includes not all 300
that’s not all three I’m super excited
about this book it’s a National
Geographic photography book but also
with stories from space so it’s not a
memoir it’s it’s about taking a space
mission and putting it in work format
and between the pictures and the the
stories I think it really I tried to
capture what it’s like to be in space
yeah super excited October 3rd October
3rd most of us don’t have the pleasure
obviously at least not yet of being able
to go to space so this is a great way to
be able to share it yeah so many
millions of people are super interested
in space and I wish they could go and I
think in the future more people will
have a chance to go but for now there’s
only been a few hundred of us that have
gone so I’m trying to share that
experience and of course the statistic
was until today that one in a thousand
people across the world had ever
experienced a total eclipse right that
it’s I mean it’s such a rare
everything it’s rare in the sense that
it doesn’t pass over our heads very off
right it’s not rare in the astronomical
sense right things line up in such a way
that there’s an eclipse
quite often right but usually it’s
happening in the ocean usually it’s
happening in a place where there’s not a
lot of population right or in space or
in spitting shadow is always there
somewhere yeah but here in the United
States in the continental United States
actually in all of the United States
everybody got to experience at the very
least a partial eclipse and a fair
amount of people were in the path of the
far ohmygosh or in the path right now
you might be in a total eclipse right
now over the middle of America right you
guys that’s insane and I want you to
tell me about it okay so make sure that
you use the hashtag NatGeo Eclipse and
there is our NatGeo eclipse this is a
live feed from our telescope right now
oh my gosh okay we’ve got some great
great questions that are coming in here
oh okay and here’s one from Rizwan
Qureshi and Rizwan asks when shall we
expect the next full lunar eclipse in
the future and in which part of the
world why would you ask us a question we
don’t know the let’s talk about what a
lunar eclipse is versus a solar eclipse
yeah that’s a good idea that’s so the
moon is casting a shadow right now on
Wyoming route roughly it’s in the middle
part of America mm-hmm and that’s a
solar eclipse but the earth also casts a
shadow and right now it’s just out in
space somewhere but when the moon passes
on the other side of the earth and it
goes into that Earth’s shadow
that’s the lunar eclipse so it’s similar
idea it’s just 180 degrees out it’s so
cool so cool and you know we talked a
little bit about the soro cycles these
cycles that are about every 18 years and
of course solar cycles mean that the
same eclipse happens every 18 years but
it’s not gonna be in the same place on
earth because of course the earth is
rotating so unfortunately we only get an
eclipse in the same place on earth every
seven 307 right to the genome yeah 375
years enter the airbnb code but that
sort of cycle also applies to lunar
cycles isn’t that cool yeah
so we also have that same lunar cycle
that’s happening about every 18 years
which i think is about 6500 days yeah
Casey roughly plus or minus we have a
call who is our call from who are we on
the line with howdy this is Alistair
Hayden calling in from Victor Idaho hi
Alistair how are you good how are you
guys we just experienced totality here a
few minutes behind you all and I just
wanted to check in so I’m a National
Geographic Explorer I’m a geologist and
we’re out here with a bunch of other
geologists and astronomers and
biologists all just taken in the site oh
my gosh so out there we just had
totality a few minutes before you I
cried I’m gonna be honest I think people
could hear it in my voice I couldn’t
hide it tell me about your experience oh
the experience was I mean you hear about
how awesome it is but nothing just
prepares you for it you know you hear
about the temperature dropping and it
looks like you’re wearing sunglasses
it’s just so dark out but you look
around and we had a perfectly clear sky
and so it felt like there was clouds but
there was definitely not and we’re up
here on a hill overlooking the we’ve is
called Teton Valley so we’re deaf to the
west of the Teton National Park right
here there’s lots of people today but we
heard we could hear the people down in
the valley we heard the shouts go up
across the valley as totality was
happening yeah so it started him started
in the west on the other side of the
valley and came over to us and you know
our whole group we’ve got 30 scientists
out here and they all moved in holler
just as well incredible we’re looking at
some photos that you sent in right now
you know we could hear people we’re in a
pretty remote place in Oregon right now
but we could hear people all around for
miles they were screaming it was such a
stunning experience I was there have you
seen a total solar eclipse before so
I’ve never seen a total one but my
parents took me out of school when I was
about seven or eight to witness one of
the partial ones and I’ll never forget
that that in our garage there’s all
these holes and then just looking at the
floor and seeing the
the pinhole camera projections of the
Eclipse and we trace them out in chalk
and I I you know it’s one of those
things that just seems too crazy to be
true but we saw the same thing again
today and so this was something else but
you some you are you saw was I think
like pretty you know a wonderful author
once said that comparing a partial
eclipse to a toll solar eclipse is like
comparing riding in an airplane to
falling out of an airplane
yeah something totally different
I have a bow sir we came out I’m sorry
it’s Terry Virts so if let’s do the same
question on a scale from one to ten you
saw partial eclipses in total so let’s
say if a partial eclipse is seven what
would you say is a is a is a full
Eclipse I think I know my number but I’m
curious to see what you think everyone
was are we for me it was about a million
okay yeah there we go it definitely
definitely way way past the off the
charts there yeah that was amazing and
it’s yeah so we were very excited about
this this one so as a geologist I was
really excited to come out to this
specific area we put together all the
great NASA data from the modis satellite
to figure out where the least cloudy
areas where I don’t know if you guys I’d
rather be lucky than good yes we we
found the spot so there you can anyone
listening can go on the NASA website and
download is just the cloudiness data for
the entire whole the entire world and it
goes back 16 years and so we averaged we
looked at just a month of August and
then figured out where in the US was
going to be some of the leaps cloudy so
out here and in Idaho it’s an average of
about one or two cloudy days out of the
entire month of August and that was we
wanted to optimize our chances here and
we were fortunate there’s no forest
fires we’ve got some friends out there
an organ and I heard that that’s
obscuring some views absolutely we’re
lucky enough to be on the east side of
the Cascades here so we were
able to get beautiful clear skies but I
know that for some people that are
closer to this Cascades or on the west
they were dealing with some some smoke
from the forest fires which is a huge
bummer and of course there are parts of
parts of totality that are completely in
cloud cover right now yeah yeah well
hope that the East Coast folks who are
still have their totality coming up get
them some good views I would say if
there’s somebody watching and they’re
not sure and they’re near totality and
they’re but they’re busy they have a
email they need to write or something
drop what you’re doing yeah and go
experience totality that’s something
that will probably never happen again it
was it was it’s worth taking a few
minutes and making sure you do it
absolutely absolutely
so go ahead I was gonna say one of the
you know the the excitement doesn’t just
stop now one of the things I’m excited
for is NASA’s also got this Discoverer
satellite up right now which is I forget
what it stands for but it’s a climate
Observatory and it just sits there and
stares at Earth and it sends back
pictures almost in real time and so I
think it takes about a day to get
uploaded to somewhere that everyone can
go access it but tomorrow I’m gonna go
check and we should be able to see the
shadow of the Moon moving across the US
this almost real-time and you know it’s
like a it’s a webcam for the earth
basically and so tomorrow I highly
encourage everyone to go check it out
the camera is called epic so you know
the pictures are going to be awesome
absolutely that’s so great and of course
you can compare that to the kinds of
pictures that Terry himself took from
that’s right yeah seeing that penumbra
and even the Umbra actually being passed
there on the earth
well Alastair thank you so much for
checking in with us and I’m so glad that
you had a happy Eclipse day it’s just
incredible yeah well thank you very much
I and I wish you guys the best for the
rest of the day and all the people up
coming about to get totality absolutely
may you have a happy totality thanks
Alastair okay thank you very much
credible okay I have a great question
here you guys this one comes in from
Kathy Adams and she
asks what about your pets eyes or yeah
your pets eyes or other animals a
thousand question marks afterward yeah
it’s an interesting question you know we
mentioned that chimpanzees actually off
yes
I’m not sure that a dog when a dog does
freak out cuz they do tend to freak out
a little bit during an eclipse it’s
generally not because they’re looking at
the Eclipse itself it’s because of the
darkness that comes Freddie Eclipse yeah
I think most animals will not stare at
it that’s an interesting question I’ve
never heard studies that show lots of
animals having eyesight loss you know
after it Clips but that is a great
question yeah I mean I think the animals
that we should be concerned about are
the great apes who have the curiosity
brainpower and figured out to go what is
going on and actually look up right and
so hopefully they get to experience the
off totality right and they won’t really
want to look until its totality and
during that minute or two it’s actually
safe to look so it’s not too bad it’s
true and I even I even noticed and I
think most of you will as well
the Sun will tell you when you can look
at it and when you can’t right it’s
perceptibly d’arco hearing totality and
when the diamond ring phenomenon happens
and the Sun just peeks through it’s
blindingly bright right have to put your
Solar glass a few seconds before
totality it’s too bright to look at
exactly and then all of a sudden that’s
not and then all of a sudden right
totalities done before you know it it
only last few seconds oh it’s a minute
twenty five that’s a long time right
it’s not enough you know what’s
interesting in that forty mile or
depending on how where you are how wide
it is band if you’re on the edge of it
it’s only a few second like we drove 10
miles and added a minute to our amount
of totality and a 10 mile south that’s
not even in totality at all so it’s a
really dependent location dependent
amount of time that you get in totality
do we have a map of that I’m not sure if
we do but there is this wonderful map
that okay but you can you can access
this online and of course National
Geographic has published this wonderful
map that shows the path of to totality
it shows it going from the western
portion of the United States starting in
Oregon all the way down to the eastern
portion in the Carolinas and you can see
the band of totality but you can also
see the larger
of the penumbral shadow the larger
shadow that’s passed or that’s cast by
the partial eclipse and you can
determine where you live within that and
how much of the eclipse you’re going to
experience and even if you’re not within
totality I do recommend that you go
outside and you look at what’s going on
and remember the partial eclipse lasts a
long time we’re still within it right
now can we get a look at that live feed
of the Sun it’s just stunning
you guys I know it looks like a hole in
the sky but that’s the moon it isn’t it
crazy because it’s backlit it’s just
surreal you can’t tell that it’s the
moon no it’s a hole it looks like a just
a hole in the sky James son is winning
though alright so we are lucky enough to
be dialed in now to an a Geoscience
editor Victoria Jagger she’s dialing in
from Sweetwater Tennessee hey Victoria
where are you guys so far in the journey
you have not hit totality yet we’ve got
absolutely great specials going on out
here right now just after 1 o’clock on
Eastern Time just after 1 o’clock ok so
we’re still in our partial but we’re on
the other half of the partial we’re
after 3rd contact because we saw
totality and let me tell you my life is
different
I know spoilers I do let me give you a
little bit of advice and I’ve been
giving it been giving this to the people
on the stream as well don’t just look at
the Sun during totality take the time to
look around you look at the horizon look
at other people’s faces look at the
ground there are so many fascinating
phenomena that occur during totality
that you want to experience the whole of
it oh absolutely
we are fortunate enough to be sitting on
some absolutely gorgeous rolling hills
on the grounds of a vineyard here in
Tennessee and the word on the street
from a NASA astronomer who happens to be
here too is that if we stand in the
right spot we’ll have enough height to
see the moon’s shadow it actually rolls
off the field
that’s insane Wow Wow
oh that’s a perspective not many people
will get yeah wonder if these mountain
climbers could see that because they
were cheering a few seconds before we
saw anything so I wonder if they could
see the show yeah yeah we were lucky
enough we’re here in front of a
beautiful rock face that’s a pretty
famous rock climbing location in Central
Oregon you can see it here in the
background and they’re actually people
who climbed the rock and were up on the
ridge even somebody who tightrope walks
across between two rocks and actually
experienced totality from a tightrope
can you believe that he has bragging
rights yeah I absolutely wouldn’t gets
too dark I wouldn’t be able to see what
was going on so Victoria you of course
are you’re the science editor for
National Geographic right okay and you
have been able to oversee a lot of
incredible stories that have been
published throughout the last hours days
and weeks about the Eclipse as you were
doing your research and as you were
reading all of the incredible things
that were written both by yourself and
by a lot of the incredible journalists
that you work with what did you come
across that surprised you what is your
most exciting discovery about the total
solar eclipse it’s gonna sound a little
cheesy but I think one of the things
that really surprised me and still
surprises me even today is just how
excited and how curious people are
getting about what’s happening and why
it’s happening and how it works I’ve
seen some really amazing questions but I
guess because I’m so steeped in it at
the stage of my life it didn’t even
occur to me to ask but they’re really
smart question somebody asked me very
early in the process for instance it’s a
fun rises in the east and sets in the
west
why is the Eclipse going from west to
east hi I had the same question when I
okay the answer to that question well
the with of course you know from my
perspective the Sun is still moving from
east to west but the difference being
that we’ve got the moon getting in
between us and when we experience the
eclipses were in the moon’s shadow
mm-hmm and because of the rotation
direction of the earth and the orbit all
the passes
moon that sort of like it says that the
moon is beaming a thought of ducks onto
the planet yeah and that dot of dark is
moving from west to east yeah because
the sun’s location really doesn’t change
too much during the Eclipse does it you
know it’s doing its normal thing yeah
for the most part it’s just rising high
in the sky absolutely depending on where
you are I am so glad this happened with
the Sun really high in the sky you know
what I mean I’m so glad that where it
was or is for those who are experiencing
it right now was it’s pretty close to
the zenith so you can see it no matter
where you are the hills don’t obscure it
the mountains don’t obscure it that’s
very very made a difference more
dramatic to and it went from like middle
of the day to middle of the night
absolutely but if this eclipse were
happening just after dawn or just before
dusk it may not have been as dramatic
but because it was full Sun middle of
the day it was just stunning
what okay so so Victoria Terry and I
we’ve talked about the alignment of the
the Sun and the moon and the planet
during the Eclipse we talked a little
bit about sort of home oh I can say this
this adji right okay so the great
Scrabble word but apparently the trick
is for the extra Y you have to use a
blank there are chapel s so we’ve been
talking about that we’ve been talking a
little bit about relativity and about
Einstein’s discoveries during the 1919
Eclipse we talked about how the last
Eclipse here in the continental US was
in 1979 a little bit about the frequency
of the Eclipse what have we left out
what’s something like some cool science
information about the eclipse that we
haven’t gotten into have you talked much
yet about how nature responds we got to
talk about that and we were so lucky
that we did we heard some crazy bird
activity while we were here and we had
we had of course was it yeah we did have
some crazy people howling at the moon
but also wasn’t I think Andrew spoke a
little bit about I asked him what was
the most interesting thing he had
written about and he said the top ten
crazy things that animals do what else
what else is like a cool science thing
that people who maybe are out there
looking at the Eclipse and just
marveling at the odds
don’t really realize this happening wow
that’s an interesting question I guess
you know if you’ve already talked a lot
about Hispanic eclipses have you talked
much about the sort of prediction cycles
what they go through no no how does this
work though I mean we’ve been predicting
eclipses for a very very very long time
right like the Babylonians have records
of being able to predict lunar eclipses
and the ancient Greeks were predicting
forward excessive and Eclipse because of
the orbital dynamics it’s literally as
predictable as the Sun Rise we never
down to like minutes to seconds now when
they’re gonna happen so we’re able to
look back at historic eclipses that
maybe aren’t in the record and say
almost certainly what happened on this
day and then we were able to project
forward and say for the next eight
thousand years we know exactly what day
what time what the path is gonna be
across the planet so if you get really
into eclipses and you really love this
one and want to see more it’s going to
be very easy for you that’s incredible
and of course Terry pointed out that in
what six hundred million years yeah we
won’t have any more because the moon is
slowly shimmying away from the earth
correct what a bummer
exactly exactly so maybe we can see
eclipses with from a birth plan that’s
true I would think that by then either
we won’t be here or we’ll be somewhere
else so hopefully that’s the situation
so Victoria have you seen a total solar
eclipse before this is my absolute first
time isn’t it so incredible how almost
everyone we talked to this is their
first time and for many of us it may be
our last time ever I mean it’s such an
important experience so Terry was just
urging individuals before and I think it
bears repeating if you’re in the middle
of your workday if you’re running
errands if you have that one email that
you’re trying to answer just put it down
just put it down and go outside yeah if
there ever were a deal to go outside and
look up with proper eye protection yes
today would be the day to do it yes
please
well Victoria thank you so much for
checking in with us how much longer
until your your totality well it’s about
just after two o’clock here in Tennessee
and totality starts for us right around
2:30 ish a little after 2:30 so you only
have 30 minutes to prepare let me tell
you the whole time you’re preparing
you’re like okay okay we got time we got
time we got time here now here comes the
counted I completely missed our
countdown and then it was over before I
knew it like you think you’re prepared
but when it happens it goes by way
faster than you would like it to so I
would know the happiest of eclipsing you
and everybody who’s on the East Coast
right now I really hope you enjoyed this
momentous occasion oh thank you so much
and thanks for throwing me an assistant
a lot of fun absolutely and thank you
for all of the incredible work that
you’ve been doing guys go to National
Geographic right now and read all of the
wonderful articles that have been
written by Victoria by many of the other
journalists who write for the science
pages there so much great knowledge
about about the Eclipse and of course
just to remind everybody who’s watching
on the stream right now I’m Cara Santa
Maria I’m a science communicator I’m
here with Terry Virts
a former NASA astronaut and space
shuttle commander and we are in the high
desert here in Central Oregon
Terrebonne Oregon on this beautiful
private property you see this geodesic
dome behind me this was a prize two
lucky winners got to sleep in this air
B&B last night they got to observe the
night sky with a NatGeo photographer and
an astronomer and early this morning
they hopped into a private plane and
they got to chase the Eclipse and this
is what they saw guys they caught that
first Eclipse motor before anybody here
was able to see it look how stunning and
Terry what did you think before about
this ball it looks like a picture from
the space station with the exception of
the airplane wing being there but it it
really looks like from space because
it’s this blackness of space and that
thin blue line of the Earth’s atmosphere
you could you could tell me that was a
picture from the space station and I
believe it that’s so jealous what an
amazing experience absolutely I’ve got
to put my son or not my sunglasses my
actual
so I can see it better I just realized I
haven’t been wearing my glasses all day
oh my gosh look at that so these what I
know these two lucky winners from this
incredible competition by Airbnb and
National Geographic they are up in this
airplane chasing the Eclipse they got
longer amount of eclipses than we did
because they’re flying east and although
the shadows moving 1,700 miles an hour
they’re moving probably 500 so they got
extra extra totality than we did a
little bit more but and then of course
the NASA is up in some airplanes they
are able to get about seven minutes of
totality which is just incredible so
yeah we are here with Nat Geo and Airbnb
and we are looking for your questions
your comments your stunning photography
that you’ve been taking during the
Eclipse and you can send it in to us
using the hashtag Nat Geo eclipse you
can also visit us on national
Geographics facebook page this is our
live stream right now you can see this
is the Sun with a partial eclipse we’re
in 3rd contact which means totality has
happened and it’s passing through look
at those sunspots it’s crazy
yeah and guys if you’re in partial
eclipse which most of America is right
now you can look directly at the Sun so
long as you have ISO certified safety
glasses yeah you need to have protection
not like normal sunglasses are not good
enough to stare at the Sun but if you
have something that is certified for an
eclipse it is amazing to look up and see
the Sun it’s the Sun kind of looks like
a partial moon something took a bite out
of it it’s incredible but it’s really
it’s it’s so funny how different the Sun
looks through your certified lenses
whether it’s sunglasses whether it’s
binoculars whether it’s a camera with a
filter on it there are many ways that
you can look at the Sun during an
eclipse so long as they have this ISO
certified filter on it that really
protects not just your eyes that’s the
most important point but also the optics
of your technology the incredible thing
is these filters are so dark that when
you put them on you can’t see anything I
can’t see my hand in front of my face I
think you’re over here no I can hear you
yeah but when you look at the Sun it
gives you enough filtration that you can
actually see the brightness of it and
you can
actually see gosh Terry look up you can
see the corona even with your solar
glasses because you’re able to see
you’re right those light rays coming out
from it so guys we really do urge proper
vision protection and we really do urge
everybody in the country right now to go
outside and with these sunglasses look
up all right this is a once in a
lifetime experience we say this all the
time about the night sky there’s so much
awe and Wonder that you can get just by
looking up and now you get to do it
during the day look up and I promise you
I promise you especially if you’re in
the path of totality disappointment will
not be a word in your dictionary no this
is something you don’t want to miss if
you’re there you need to see it
I cried yeah he saw it you guys saw it
no all right so guys my directors
telling me that they have that footage
of the of totality not of me crying but
of totality here oh my goodness okay so
there’s the diamond ring phenomenon and
it’s starting to slowly slowly evaporate
and now we’re in totality here and
there’s this phenomenon I mean it
basically just looks like blackness to
me but you can see this super super
faint ring there’s this phenomenon
called Baily’s beads Terry what a
Baily’s beads so the moon is not this
perfectly round surface it has craters
and divots in it and as the sun’s light
flows around the moon the craters allow
certain areas of bright sunlight in
certain areas that’s blocked out and so
when you see in the seconds and
fractions of a second right before
totality happens and right after it
happens you can see basically the shape
of the moon being reflected around the
Sun it’s it’s a pretty neat way it looks
like little beads around the Sun it’s
just stunning and the cool thing is that
when you see these totality photos then
you mentioned you think this is going to
be the most photographed event well this
is generating so much interest some some
people are predicting
and it will be and it’s going right
across America where everybody has a
cellphone yeah lots of people have
cameras and it’s gonna be exciting later
on to see what’s on Twitter and
Instagram and see what kind of pictures
people post absolutely and the cool
thing is you know sometimes when it
comes to eclipse photography it’s all
about the timing right and so because so
many different people have been able to
take these images we can compare not
just for our pleasure in our enjoyment
the way that the Sun looked at different
phases from different places but we can
also enjoy like from a scientific
perspective we can really get some great
data and right here guys you can see
totality is just ending and there’s that
once again and at this point through
through of the telescope you can’t
really tell but to your naked eyes this
is blindingly bright at this point that
is when you have to put your solar
potatoes on one a few seconds after
totality and it’s too bright to stir
it’s just fun
absolutely okay let’s see okay so we’ve
got a couple of questions here and a
couple of these we’ve answered earlier
in the stream but they’re I think
they’re pretty important and they bear
repeating we’ve got a question here from
someone who says does this happen with
other planets and as we explained a
little bit before other planets can’t
fully block the Sun when they pass in
front of it they do transit it there’s
something called the transit of Venus
and it goes in front of the Sun but it’s
teeny tiny little dots yeah we actually
there is a shift in brightness and
scientists can measure it we can
actually see it using proper eye
protection but that’s actually
experienced so you’ve read in the news
about discovering planets and other star
systems and that’s actually how we
determine that there’s a planet is that
when it passes in front of starlight it
clearly is not creating an eclipse on
earth but the brightness of the star
dips a little bit from the planet
blocking the svet star’s light and
that’s that’s how we’re detecting
planets right now is with some basically
the answer to that question is how we
detect planets how cool is that
yeah and then if we were to answer this
question a different way does this
happen with other planets maybe we could
say does this happen on other planets
because we’ve got another question this
is if we might be living on Mars someday
can we experience the Eclipse from there
too
well we wouldn’t be having this special
National Geographic presentation because
it happens all the time
the Mars has two moons Phobos and Deimos
and they are very small they’re really
odd shape they’re basically asteroids
that are in really close orbit to Mars
and because they’re so close to Mars
their shadow gets cast on the Martian
surface very frequently and it’s not the
super rare once-in-a-lifetime event that
it is here but it makes me wonder if it
would be as pretty right because our
moon is almost round and the Sun is
almost round so we get this really
stunning ring phenomenon and on Mars as
you mentioned the moons that are sort of
Rocky and asteroids like they’re lumpy
lumpy right they are lumpy and you know
it would depend the amount of totality
would depend on are you is the moon
passing in length wide the skinny white
you know there there would be a big
difference in how much eclipse you get
on Mars and of course totality might
just be that the Sun so obscured that
you can you your honor seem to faintest
little parts of the tendrils of the
ground Oh guys that would be cool to see
one on Mars hopefully someday soon in
the not too distant future it would be
cool I don’t want to undercut how cool
today was it was cool it’s not the word
there are I don’t think there’s a word
to describe know what the word is using
the word we overuse it all the time in
the English language and it bums me out
but this is a perfect example it was
awesome it was awesome like awe
inspiring it inspired awe it made me cry
this is the live view right now from our
partial eclipse so we are past totality
we’ve almost got a full Sun again but of
course our telescope is so powerful that
you can see sunspots which is so
incredible but I think it would be fun
let’s just one more time for those of
you who are just tuning in to the stream
to show the totality event in all its
glory
one more time so if you look here you
can see that the diamond ring phenomenon
is just being Eclipse like out and now
we’re in totality now during this
portion of totality let’s talk a little
bit about what happened what was your
experience like the first thing you
notice is it gets dark you know maybe 10
or 15 minutes before it started to get
gray and it wasn’t a normal sunset dark
like you mentioned it was more just gray
and then it got cold we were really cold
that really cold it was goosebump cold
yeah you’re in the high desert if the
temperature really changed and then
people started screaming and shouting
and hooting and hollering and when it
actually happened it really surprised me
to see the Sun the corona I didn’t
realize how big make it I it was a
gigantic piece of sun’s atmosphere that
you could see yeah sometimes when you
look at pictures and even when you look
at this telescope stream which is so so
dialed in and so big right you see this
tiny little sliver but with your naked
eye the corona extends far out from from
totality right and another thing looking
at the moon there was one bright yellow
or orange dot on the right as we looked
at it kind of on the south and I don’t
know if that’s related to Bailey’s Beach
or not but the seeing the corona I think
for me was the most amazing thing yeah I
think so too and also for me just
looking down and around noticing all of
the wonderful crews out here with us
from National Geographic from Airbnb
seeing them looking up and just gasping
you can see here from the feed this is
when totality is just finishing you
definitely see Bailey speeds popping
through and eventually there is that
diamond ring phenomenon that occurs one
more time it’s just guys
there was a ghostly shadow too on these
mountains it was like a ghost shadow and
the funny thing is the word Umbra which
is that central cone that central shadow
actually means means go oh yeah yeah and
penumbra which is the larger shadow
that’s cast by the moon that you see
during a partial eclipse like what’s
happening right now that term was
actually coined by Kepler that’s a
famous astronomer he is he that’s right
that’s amazing just a little tidbit
there guys this has been so much fun
sorry Abby what to came to say hi this
has been so much fun Terry I couldn’t
have asked for a better partner in crime
for experiencing the Eclipse this was a
once-in-a-lifetime experience I
completely loved it
I’ve wanted to see one ever since I was
a kid and I always thought it would be
cool it’s way beyond cool I mean it was
really impact
full and it’s something right now almost
all of America is in some form of
partial eclipse or total eclipse so I
think it’s something that can bring us
together it’s something that every
American’s going to experience in a very
positive way which may be the best thing
that happens out of this whole event
absolutely no matter your differences
we’re all underneath the same sky and we
get to experience this together I
personally I want to thank you
former astronaut space shuttle commander
terry virts I want to thank National
Geographic
I want to thank Airbnb for this
incredible opportunity and I want to
thank everyone at home for tuning in and
let’s keep the conversation going
you can go to national Geographics
Facebook page and on Twitter Instagram
wherever make sure that you use the
hashtag NatGeo
eclipse to share your stories and your
photos happy Eclipse save you guys it
was so good to be with you
you
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