Page 95 - Eclipses News Today

Path of totality, the key word is totality. thats what makes this eclipse special and a century event. how so? >> well, the reason why this is a special event because of totality is because the idea of totality being in one particular place in any location on the planet, thats kind of rare. solar eclipses can happen as few as two times a year, maybe as up to five times a year. but to stand in totality gives scientists the ability to study elements of the sun. the surface of the sun is only 11,00...

Outside, so bizarre. weve had eclipses before, jonathan. whats so special about the impact of this one? reporter: whats different about this one is that for one thing solar power is a much bigger player than the last one in 1979. a big enough player that unless companies take action, theyre going to notice problems with the power grid. and so whats happening is solar farms along the path of the eclipse will take in less sunlight at a time of year and time of day that air conditioners are running...

As the prompter says now did not work. then the eclipse went ahead. the emperor was not happy with his astronomers. >> he failed to tell the emperor about the coming eclipse. when it happens, they lost their job and their lives. >> sometimes an eclipse led to more positive outcomes, at least according to a story by greek historians. in 585, there was a battle. >> all of a sudden, the sun was covered by the moon. they stopped fighting and they made a peace treaty. >> scripture mentions eclipses. ...

About it. we talked about the rarity of being involved in this. to be in that path of totality is incredibly rare. the incredible beauty of it, seeing the coronas that most humans have never seen, the experience in the rarity of it. the fact that so many people are getting excited about science and asking questions about science, trying to understand why eclipses happen, what are the structures in our solar system, why does our total solar eclipse happened only rarely, why is it such a special e...

>> reporter: why come all of this way? why come all this way? >> a wonderful university is here and weve come, of course, to see a total eclipse. >> reporter: how many eclipses have you seen? >> this is my first total eclip eclipse. >> reporter: really? youre the president of the astronomy club. im amazed. why is this so important? >> because it was accessible. we only had to travel 5,000 miles. [ laughter ] >> reporter: said with typical irish understatement. have a great time. how far off do y...

May i speak to you real quick about what youre doing out here? >> sure. >> reporter: what is your name? >> dave coupling. >> reporter: im getting close. i have a microphone to hear. where you from? >> minneapolis. >> reporter: how do you get here? >> flew. >> reporter: when did you get here? >> yesterday. >> reporter: why did want to be here? >> once in a lifetime. got to be here. >> reporter: ever seen an eclipse before? >> just wonderful, never. see the sky disappear. >> reporter: the sun disa...

The south. so you cant do that. as the legend grows about these eclipses for hundreds of years youve read about these things and a lot of people used to believe that they were precursors of evil because in the beginning of the eclipse, you see the snake like shadowy figures on the ground. a lot of people thought that was a sign of evil and so they would always have these big seminars and these praying circles in the wakes of these eclipses. you should finally know, shep, you should really enjoy ...

Presenting all sorts of stuff. one cool thing theyre giving ot here. i got to get one of these things. shows the sun from the national solar observatory. people are really looking forward to it. millions of people lining that path of totality. people here lucky to be in t. a little jealous. enjoy it. watching your coverage. put up a lot of photos. okay? >> reporter: will do. as if youre not totally geeked out and im definitely in that group. joined by astrophysicist, host of "outrageous acts o...

Partial eclipses in new jersey. were seeing the sun come over. >> tom brokaw was such a great conversation, he is sitting out there putting it in historic perspective. witnessi witnessing something like this today, there was all of these tales and stories in history about why this was happening. they would say it was a lizard taking a bite from the sun, into northern parts of europe, it was a bear fighting with the sun or taking a bite from the sun. and there were early understandings of the ecl...

Eclipse. so really we are just genuinely lucking out with the weather and being able to see most of this total solar eclipse. its awesome. >> and even folks, dylan, who dont live in this path of totality that we keep referring to, theyre going to see something. >> yes. >> theyre going to experience something. >> the entire united states will see a partial eclipse. and if youre in that zone, youll see the total eclipse. so go outside wherever you live and try to catch it, because the weather actu...