about what's happening, but it's also just an amazing human experience. it's fascinated us for centuries, for thousands and thousands of years, and so many people are going to get to see that combination of the scientific side, but also the bizarre human side of something that's so rare. >> very quickly, scott what will you be looking for specifically today? >> i'm going to be looking for the corona. i've studied the corona and looked at spacecraft images but this will be an amazing time to just see it with the naked eye and everyone's going to be able to do this. >> speaking of the naked eye, david, i just want to alert viewers watching. don't look directly. you need the special glasses. >> absolutely. >> tell viewers why they need this. >> the sun, as i said, all forms of radiation. even though we wouldn't feel the infrared or ultraviolet, if we stare at the sun, it will burn the retina right away.

we he's in specially formulated glasses to keep out the rays. >> especially children. >> oh, absolutely. >> and everybody outside in that totality range needs to wear these. even if you're not necessarily in the totality? >> if you're not in totality you definitely need them, because at any point the surface brightness of the sun is just so great that even a small fraction of that surface being visible and if you stare at it, you will be damaged. >> and the damaged for the rest of your life? >> unfortunately so. >> we've spoke ton individuals who were 15, 16 years old, looked up and got problems the rest of their lives. standing by. i want to show viewers live pictures coming in now from big summit prairie, oregon right now. on the left, they're going to be experiencing totality and, what, roughly 20 minutes or so, and on the right, look at this. put it on the screen. blackwell, missouri. with totality in about an hour from now. quickly going back to cnn's chad myers to set the scene for viewers here in the united

states. chad, around the world, just tuning in set the scene for us. what we're about to see over the next hour or two. >> a swath 70 miles wide, 3,000 miles long. it will go across the earth. the shadow of the moon. and people have asked me now for days, how on earth does this thing start in oregon? and end in south carolina? well, here's how it sets up. it's three dimensional. where we are right now is here. the shadow of the moon is way off to the west. sun's going to get higher. moon's going to get higher. all of a sudden in about an hour, right where you said. right in missouri. an hour from then, the sun and moon align up like this. that will be all the way across the east coast. so that's how this goes it's wrong way. in fact it is the right way. it's how they're supposed to go. let me take to you one more thing, because it's important about the glasses, wolf. brought myself a little flashlight. see that? it works. brought myself a broken expensive glasses, only

expensive glasses break. i'm going to put it through. you can still see through my polarized lens, can you still see that. now, i take this same flashlight and put it on this, and there is nothing coming out. 99.97% of everything blocked by this lens, not even close to this one. sunglasses do not work. >> it's true. if i, chad, put on these glasses right now, you know what i see? nothing. >> absolutely nothing. >> total. >> total darkness, and that's what you need at this point in order to protect your eyesight trying to underscore how significant this is. because there could be especially kids looking up inadvertently, there could be permanent damage. >> sure. people ask me, is this sun today worse than any other day? is there more radiation? no. there isn't. it's the same sun. you shouldn't look at the sun any day and you don't. when you -- you see it, oh -- you can see spots in your eyes. today people are wanting to look

at it to see this cress rcht and y cre crescent. it's worse than doing it on a normal day. you'll have different spots and pretend that you can look at it longer. you should look at it zero seconds today. make the box, do whatever. or just watch it on tv, because we have the best pictures. >> certainly do. extensive live coverage coming up on cnn, of course. chad, don't go too far and the others, at the air and space museum and historically, what, the first time in 99 years we've seen this type of eclipse here in the united states? >> what's really historic is that it's our eclipse alone. north america is the only land mass that this eclipse path goes over. everything else is water. >> and they've been able to predict this for a long time. >> yes. >> and predict future eclipses down the road? >> absolutely. we've been able to predict eclipses with greater and greater and greater accuracy

over the past century. >> let me bring in chris hatfield. in brisbank australia and an astronauts. astronauts will be watching this closely as well. tell viewers why. >> yes. there are six people up on the space station including peggy whitson, the all-time record holder for an american in space. and they're going to cross a part of the world where the shadow is down here on the surface. a couple times as crossing across the u.s. that is such a rare event. cool thing to see. the sun on one side, somehow the moon shadow and putting a very strange apparition under the surface of the world. out of the -- 7.5 billion of us, there's only 6 that are getting that view, that rare perspective of the whole world and the shadow of the moon on it. we'll look forward to the pictures that peggy and the folks up there take also. >> we certainly will. i want to show viewers live

pictures coming in from newport, oregon, right now. the beach there. look at this eclipse that's moving closer and closer. miguel marquez, you're on the scene in oregon for us. set the scene. >> reporter: this is absolutely incredible, wolf. it's getting darker here. it's getting cooler here. several degrees cooler, and we have this perfect sort of chessshire grin. you can feel the energy and excitement that people have here. i want to introduce you to somebody over here. these guys have come from a very long way away. all the way from cork, island, their astronomy club. 36 mens of their astronomy club. phil, put you on the spot. take your glasses off. phil, stand up here, if you would. what is your last name? >> billowmara.

>> reporter: why come all of this way? why come all this way? >> a wonderful university is here and we've come, of course, to see a total eclipse. >> reporter: how many eclipses have you seen? >> this is my first total eclip eclipse. >> reporter: really? you're the president of the astronomy club. i'm 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 you think we are right now? from totality? >> maybe -- ah -- ten minutes. >> reporter: maybe ten minutes. just announced 13, but you think 10 minutes we're off? >> yes. >> reporter: a very, very excited crowd. the other interesting thing about this particular path, it only hits the u.s. last time that happened, 1257.

about 200 years before christopher columbus was even born. wolf? >> it's a lot, a lot of time we've waited for this moment right now, david. you see what's going on. you see 99 years since the eclipse, a total eclipse has gone all across the united states. >> reporter: that's right. >> the last time a total eclipse but not all across the united states? >> a number of great ones. saw a great one in march 1970. it came up the east coast and went right across nantucket island. and that was my first total eclip eclipse. >> what was that like? >> absolutely fabulous. part of a yale expedition and beach party and we had a fantastic time. took time lapse pictures of the sun and the moon going across, watched the sea gulls nest after a while and the whole place took on a quietness after.

and what got me more than anything else was the 360-degree twilight. >> tell us about that. >> oh, it's absolutely fantastic. it was, for me it was a golden twilight all the way around. >> because you would turn yourself around to see it? >> right. i had a special job. i had to stand at the top of a telescope dome and remove a filter exact listen at the point of totality but that gave me a view all the way around and i was able to see this incredible totality, but what it was capped by right at the top was this crown of light, and it was this beautiful ehere the atherial. i didn't have to do anything and just sat there and drank it all in. >> a moment you'd never forget, right? >> absolutely not. >> how many eclipses have you seen? >> i've seen two. since i met the woman who's

going to be my wife at the first one, i was a little -- maybe we shouldn't go to another. after 36 years, what the hell. so we went to libya and's in the 2000 eclipse, 2006 eclipse, sorry, it was absolutely fabulous, and we're still married. >> scott holly, what about you? you've seen -- i assume you've seen an eclipse before. tell us about it. >> i've only see a partial eclipse back in 1984. there was a partial eclipse that came up the eastern seaboard of the united states. and i was in sixth grade. this will be my first total eclipse. i'm very much looking forward to it. >> eight minutes we're told until the first total eclipse. you will see it here on cnn. to all of our viewers, chris hatfield, what about you? you've seen eclipses before? >> i've only seen a partial before, wolf and i remember standing and holding one of the little reflectors so i didn't have to look at it directly. i didn't have the super dark glasses at the time but i just,

i found it really fascinating to have this little projection of the round sun slowly being eaten away by the shadow of the moon. it happens sos slowly enough yo have time to think and puzzle what's really going on in the solar system and the rareness of the event. to me that was the best part. as a kid seeing that, opened up to what i might be able to do in my life. maybe pursue things that seemed impossible. gave me a little window on the world and the moon and the sun that i'd never really put together before. >> it's a spiritual moment for so many as well. chad myers, you're an expert in this area and we know that humans will be watching this total eclipse, but what about the impact on animals? >> yeah. that is a great question, because the nocturnal animals actually will see it getting dark and go, wait. what happened? that was only a six-hour day, and get up, start to move around and three minutes later it will

start to get light and they go back in their hole or wherever they live. yes, it affects animals as much or more than humans they're more in tune to the beat of the world and birds get to this tune as well, bees back to their hives, birds back to their nests and all of a sudden it will be bright again. here's how it works, wolf. i want to tell you that the sun and the moon, they always make shadows. the earth make as shadow. mars makes a shadow. mercury make as shadow so do airplanes. sometimes you're on the ground, an airplane flies over you see that shadow. this is the big shadow of the day, because it comes off the moon, which is 400 times closer than the sun. even though it's 400 times smaller, that math works out. it almost appears to be the exact same size. depending how close the moon and sun are away. it's an oval kind of an almost an egg-shaped rotation around the earth. it? alwa -- isn't always this close. because it is, a complete not

annualar, not a ring around the moon, completely covering the sun and therefore we go with the word "total eclipse." wolf? >> advice for folks worried about their pets, dogs, cats, other animals? >> my dog is afraid if i drop a fork on the ground. i can imagine that other animals will be ski skittish as well. if outside, tied up for a brief time in it all goes way. inside, tie them up -- we always want them inside, not tied up anyway. the idea so they don't run away. you hear people losing animals all the time over fireworks during the fourth of july. they get scared. animals, your pets, especially domesticated pets can also get scared as well. >> i'm sure they will. stand by. back to miguel out in salem, oregon, right now. only moments away from that total eclipse. set the scene again for us, miguel. >> it is -- it's unlike -- this

gentleman what is your name? >> chris ralph. >> reporter: just walked to me and chatting what it's like. gotten cool. noticeably cool. the light is a bizarre gray color. what's going through your mind right now? >> it's unreal. it's different. it's different than twilight. it's -- it's -- everything looks different. it's -- it's a little freaky, in way. isn't it? i mean you totally understand it, but it's like, you feel like there's something really special in the air. >> reporter: where have you come from? why here? >> i live here. >> reporter: you live here? >> yeah. my wife works here on campus. we're, like, campusites. >> reporter: show what you it looks like now in our sun spot. look at this. tyke a little tiny sliver. like a nail basically left of the sun. >> and this -- >> reporter: this, so what have they announced? three minutes to totality here? you hear the people, they start to applaud when they hear that. i want to give you a sense of

what's happening here. everybody is starting to stand up. getting excited, to watch this. staring up at the sun. something you wouldn't normally do, staring at the sun. we have binoculars that we are using. okay. this is actually very, very cool. we have binoculars we use with solar filters to get a sharp and crisp image of the sun. it is just a tiny, tiny sliver right now. soon as it goes full totality, we'll have about 2 1/2 minutes of totality here in salem, soons as it goes full totality, you can actually take your glasses off and look directly at the sun and you can see that sort of corona effect. let's come back over here to the -- can i hop in here quick? two minutes to totality. two minutes. you can see just how close it is here on this solar spotter. and then -- if you would, jordan, look out

at the crowd here as they are looking up. i mean, just, this light is incredible. the coolness is incredible. while the -- the sky is still blue, it's like there's a gray haze hanging over the sky right now. it's, like, twilight and in a bizarre sort of movie or something. and you're starting to see on the very corner -- of the sun, sort of -- it looks like -- sort of a rough edge, and that is probably the beginnings of what they call the bailey beads, where the sun starts to shine through the canyons and the mountains of the moon. so you're actually seeing -- one minute. one minute they've just announced to totality. the energy is -- is palpable. pretty exciting.

>> what? >> what? >> oh, my gosh. >> live pictures showing viewers now. live pictures of this total eclipse in oregon. this is from lincoln city, oregon right now. you can see. you can see how the moon is really blocking the sun. you know, the smithsonian air and space museum, david, when you see this what goes through your mind? >> wow. the first word that goes through. but really, the prominences, there's three beautiful prominences. they are in the upper right, and you can see bits of the inner corona. it's really fantastic. [ cheers and applause ] >> incredible! whoa! >> this is really good, because those are beautiful -- prominences. >> oh, my god. >> and the moon over the sun. >> that last eclipse, 2 1/2 minutes over there in oregon. >> that's right. >> as it moves, as the moon

moves across you see subtle changes in the structure of the corona that's sort of with the light passing through different parts of the valleys and the moon, in the profile. but it's really -- >> this is absolutely -- >> oh, my god. look at that. >> let me go back to miguel. it's about to hit completely where you are. >> absolutely incredible. >> reporter: look at the -- taking pictures of this thing. e are in full totality. you see the streams coming off the moon. jordan, if you would, look up at the sky. this is absolutely incredible to see for myself. we're about a minute through totality. the crowd erupted when it went total. you can see the planes, you can see stars in the sky. this is an unbelievable experience. you can see the planes crossing right in front. like it's night. the temperature has dropped

between maybe 5 and 10 degrees. this is absolutely amazing. to witness. never seen anything like this. >> david, go ahead. explain what we're seeing right now. >> well, we're looking at a number of images from the beginning and the end of totality and seeing the crest of the sun coming back here on the right-hand side, and the left-hand side is, zooming in, we still see put full totality the corona easily visible. >> the sun is coming through in organiz oregon but it salem total over there. >> that's right. >> wow! [ applause ] [ cheers and applause ]

>> that is absolutely incredible. as it passed totality, this crowd just erupted. >> reporter: that timdiamond so of light glinting off the side of the moon, absolutely brilliant and the now -- starting to get light again here. this is the weirdest light i have ever seen. excuse me. so what was it like? >> it was amazing! unbelievable. and it got dark and cool and the stars started to come out, and -- i don't know. just amazing. >> reporter: how do you describe this quality of light we're experiencing right now? >> like, the atmosphere just makes feel light and happy. i don't know. it's amazing! >> reporter: it's a completely different feeling. absolutely incredible. >> yes . >> reporter: you can't look at it now without wearing your special solar shades. an incredible experience here. the crowd here, clearly, got everything it wanted. you could literally see that

corona and those streams coming off of the sun as the moon passed in front of it. incredible. wolf? >> so it's what? 10:20 a.m. over there on the, pacific time, where you are, miguel. during that 2 1/2 minute period it got very dark there. right? >> reporter: it got very dark. you could see planes plying in the sky like you see at night, blinking along. you could see stars out. i was listening to crickets but the crowd was cheering too loud to here crickets. clearly a very strange, weird moment. even now the quality of light is very, very strange out here. like somebody's take an gray shield or something and sort of hung it over the sky. because it just feels very, very gray and sort of odd out here still. that time of totality also got very cold, or cooler. between maybe 5 and 10 degrees cooler. incredible how much just that little bit of sunshine going away like that, that quickly,

affected the temperature and affected everybody here. wolf? >> and during that 2 1/2 minute period, miguel, you could see other stars? >> reporter: oh, yeah. you could see -- i don't know -- i'm not as good an astronomer. i don't know if you could see planets or stars but you could see several bright objects in the sky. may have been planets. i know some of the planets you can apparently see when it's full corona. planes you could see everywhere. it was literally -- it was literally day turning into night. as cliche as that sounds, really incredible. you can see why 1,000, 2,000 years ago when this would happen, people might think, oh, the gods may not like us. today the weather gods are shining on us. it is a perfect, perfect day here in oregon. >> i'm glad. no clouds that would disturb what all of you were experiencing. david, you were saying that the,

what they saw, other planets. >> oh, yeah. vines, just west of the sun. very prominent. and certainly brighter stars. you can see, it takes a while for your eyes to get totally dark adapted. in that minute or two, adapted enough to see dozens of stars and the colors. differences in color. but it was venus that i'm sure they saw that was just west of the sun. in front of the sun. >> we were watching it. you and me on this big screen tv. >> yeah. >> it's one thing to see on a tv. i assume totally different to see it in person? >> afraid so. but it took me back. once you see one, it's indelible. it's always there. i mean, it was -- 30 or 40-some years ago i saw my first eclipse and still i can remember that moment of turning my head skyward add totality and just experiencing a surreal but permanent indelible impression.

>> chris hatfield, former commander of the international space station, an astronaut. just watching it as we all were, what was it like for you to see that total eclipse? >> it's just really cool, wolf, to think that the united states is being followed by a moon shadow right now. it's racing across the 2,000 miles an hour across the country, and high up in the air, there are two nasa pilots and two nasa engineers in a wb-57 that are going to chase it. try to keep up with that high-speed moving shad e take po get as much information as possible. chasing that rare ethereal racing shadow across the country. an amazing country. physically beautiful and scientifically fascinating. >> you think there will be important science potentially, some lessons we will learn from this experience? >> oh, yes. to try to understand the basic

solar physics, to -- the field we're seeing when the moon is block the sun is the, the ionized glass, the plasma field around the sun that's kind of the whole key idea how we maybe will generate power in the future with fusion reactors. trying to understand how does plasma actually kreye fusion and generate that power? this gives us a window of insight that we can't get any other way. especially right close to the surface. pretty interesting scientific day. >> yes. very interesting. and scott holly, professor of physics, what was it like for you to experience at least up front from the tv screen that total eclipse? >> oh, that was so beautiful. that was incredible. to be able to see the prominences, and see the corona come out like that. that was incredible, and here at the studio, i checked to make sure that i hadn't screwed up the time somehow and was stuck inside, but, yeah.

we've got another hour here in nashville, thankfully. we'll get to see that. that was incredible. >> certainly was, and on the left, you know, david, i want to point out we're seeing it's leaving oregon right now. moving across the country. heading next towards idaho. you see what's happening in hailey idaho. that whole path will be amazing? >> right. every single point along the path they'll experience what they experienced in oregon. that is what's going through my mind. an amazing realization to see so many get a chance to see this. >> that swath, 70 miles approximately. say you're 80 or 90 miles away, you'll still experience a lot of it. >> get close enough to maybe get that bead effect, but not the full totality, not the corona. that you only get in totality. >> here in washington, d.c.,

we're going to experience about 80% of that eclipse. >> right. >> what will that be like? >> in may be some some percepti change in the color of the sky. the air is so humid we wouldn't sense a temperature change. just being able to see it and enjoy it i think is a tremendous triumph. >> even if you're outside, that 100% totality, you still have to take the precautions with the special glasses? >> especially. especially. the moment of totality is the only time you can take your glasses off. any other point when you're at partial phase, you must use those glasseses. >> very important. especially young kids that will be going outside. teachers and parents have to tell them, be careful. don't look up at the sky. >> one of our educators says, you put the glasses on, put them on looking down and then look up and when you are finished looking up, look down and then only then take the glasses off. >> these glasses, they're -- everybody, a lot of people have gotten them.

apparently some are fake and not really effective, right? >> not as efficient in blocking the light. and it's hard to tell which is which. you just can't test it with your eyes. but, yes. older-styled glasses like this, sometimes let in a little too much infrared, a little too much ultraviolet and there might be ones totally bogus. i hope not. >> i think there are unfortunately. we've seen some of those reports. >> i'm really sorry to hear about that. >> a dangerous situation that could screw up your eyes a very long time. we've interviewed people who observed an eclipse, didn't have the right glasses. 16, 17 years old and then 40, 50 years later still have little spots that they see. >> you don't feel it. you don't feel the burn. >> for a while. >> you don't until it's too late. >> why you have to be really careful as we're -- as this -- total eclipse is going across the united states. just saw it in oregon. now moving towards idaho. heading towards missouri. all the way down to south

carolina. this is going to be a wonderful two-hour experience for so many people. so, chad, for viewers here in the united states and around the world who are just watching, as we're watching right now. walk us through what's happening right now and what is about to happen. >> nasa.gov has a great program to look at here moving right over the western edge of idaho. but the beginning of the new solar eclipse for nebraska is now becoming almost to omaha, into des moines. leaving now the other side there on the pick ocean. getting larger and larger. the sun coming back. you can follow this black dot all the way across the country, all the way to charleston. i suspect we'll have some wraith delays or rain problems across parts of kansas, maybe into parts of nebraska. probably a couple showers here across parts of the carolinas, but the rest of the country, wolf, is really going to be good. i mean, we get on a summer day, we can get 50% or 60% cloud

coverage and we're not seeing that. this is the blue stripe, north of boise through casper, wyoming and finally the cloud cover and showers i'm talking about. sent stephanie elam to st. joseph, missouri. stephanie, sorry about that. you are getting the cloud cover. still a chance for it to break up. covers st. jo to marysville. traffic getting out of st. louis trying to get to totality here and over towards nashville, completely in the clear. lots of clear skies and sunshine for the next four to five hours all the way to knoxville, in great shape. to the north of athens, georgia, a party at stanford stadium. students with glasses on get about 98%. a cool party going on there. and then all the way across here to just about the isle's homss more reportering waiting in the wings noor shadow to get there. >> reporters across this path, all across the united states. chad, a lot of commercial aircraft, a lot of planes in the

sky right now. how, if at all, does this total eclipse the path moving across the united states affect them? >> well, it doesn't affect them, but they're not going to keep up. because even, i was coming back from vegas on saturday, we got a ground speed of about 575 miles per hour. you have to go three times faster than that to keep up with the shadow. maybe a brief encounter with the shadow. gets dark. able to see the wing there's in the dark and the lights on the end of the wings shining like they do at night. other than that, no real effect. not going to be in that shadow long enough. one plae plane going one way, a shadow the other at 1,500, you're not in the shadow very long. >> and david? >> the slightest increase in the amount of time you can see that corona, the smithsonian has a crew on a jet plane going through the totality that is going to increase their ability

to see the total corona for about a minute or two. it will see it maybe a total of four minutes, and that will give them so much more data than if they were just sitting on the ground, that it will be -- a terrific increase in our understanding of the processes that are going on just at the boundary of the visible surface of the sun and the inner atmosphere and the corona of the sun and it's right there where we need to know so much more about how energy is transmitted, and during those four minutes, that will teach us a lot. >> looking at the eclipse. these are live pictures coming in from halley -- hailey idaho. >> reporter: we have rain here, wolf.

23409 wh not what we want. we can't see. this gentleman from australia brought an umbrella to help me out. i was standing here getting drenched. are you sad about choosing to come to st. joseph, missouri? >> absolutely not. we're having a great time. clouds. nothing you can do about it. >> reporter: you think you'll get anything? we still have time. >> had time the other night. and cloudy, fine. so just -- >> reporter: been three other places? are they all different? >> ought different. >> reporter: it's worth it for you. >> absolutely. >> reporter: see? those watching in missouri, somewhere else, 70-mile swath of land. thank you, kind sir, for your m umbrel umbrella, could be still really cool. the light changes, look to side, environment around you. temperature changes. things to look foreeven if miguel has the coolest stuff ever over there on the coast. totally fine. we are going to sit here. still have about, oh, about half

an hour to go before we reach totality here. and hopefully still good. people here are still excited to be here even though now you see people covered up completely in their rain ponchos. this lady has a stool over her camera also from australia, made the trek. protecting camera gear. plastic bags, ponchos, rain boots. how we're eclipses here in missouri. >> you still have a half hour. we can hope it clears and that rain goes away. the clouds go away. let's hope in the next half hour. and folks taking it in good spirit. david, it's got to be disappointing. travel all the way from australia to the united states to watch this historic moment, a total eclipse of the sun, and all of a sudden, the clouds and the rain come. >> there is wonderful stories that turned almost into spiritual journeys that are just so -- emotionally encapsulating

of the effort, the fascination that even if there was a clouds, there was still that effort. a combined effort to see something truly spectacular. and i know it sound funny, almost counterintuitive, but i know that some people when they have traveled so far, but not seen it, they feel it is a, absolute imperative to try again. that gives hope, that gives meaning to life. >> chad, let me -- you're a weather guy. what's the weather like as this total eclipse moves across the united states from oregon to idaho, missouri, and heading your way. it's heading towards south carolina. chad, i want you to stand by for a moment. we'll get that forecast from you to see what the weather's going to be like. oh, there you are, chad. what's it going to be like? the weather, moving towards you? >> really, we couldn't have put stephanie in any worse of a position or that man from australia. really that's the only place in totality we have no visibility

whatsoever. move you around here. back out to the west. this is where it really is good. all the way from casper, wyoming through yellowstone national park, grand teton for echsteton. and lincoln, nebraska, omaha seeing cloud cover. we talked about this an hour ago, wolf. when the clouds move away and they can, when the sun is blocked temperatures go down. the clouds are here because the temperatures have gone up. cumulus clouds. if the temperature goes down quick enough the clouds can actually go away and can you have a brief glimpse of the sun, the eclipse even with rainfall coming in there. keeping fingers crossed for stephanie. back down to nashville. perfect. knoxville perfect through the great smoky mountains, perfect. into charleston, rain showers coming in now. hoping for charleston to get a

sea breeze. when you take that wind from the ocean and you push the clouds inward. sorry if you're 40 miles inland, because you'll get cloudy, but charleston could still break out. so could isle of palms and down to almost savannah, georgia. >> it's going to take another hour or two for the total eclipse to move all across the country. right, chad? >> absolutely right. won't get out of the partial eclipse. talked about that moment of totality, that's where it's dark. 2.5 minutes of nirvana right there. but the rest of it, it's the leadup. it's the journey to get there. and then the journey on the way out when the sun comes back out. it all kind of -- you get to disneyland, trying to get there, but if you have a good enough trip getting to disneyland may be part of the story. it's the leadup, the anticipation, it's the cloud cheering. when i was listening to miguel marquez' shot from salem, and the crowd behind it, they were just roaring as this was getting

closer and closer and closer. it was like you were at a football game. not at some kind of solar eclipse. football games happen all the time. solar eclipse's don't. >> moving across the united states. first time since 1918. 99 years folks waited for this moment. chris hatfield, your thoughts on why it is so powerful, so emeshal, so spiritual for folks who actually see it? >> you know, through history, wolf, we've named the things in the sky with a sense of wonder. we named the planets after the gods from thousands of years ago. when those first eclipses happened, it was a terrifying, unbelievable, unpredictable event that our god somehow angry at us. as the science of fidsphysics explains what's going on, more

palatable to us intellectually but that same send of wonder is there. the crew 69 space station just south of australia but it's only going to take them about a half hour to be back over the united states. across the pacific, and they will then have a chance as they arc up and crest the northern states, to look for that shadow crossing across. the kentucky and tennessee, they have the longest periods of totality. where the shadow slows down the most. they get over 2.5 minutes of totality and around that time is which the six people up on the space station, they'll be taking pictures like crazy, but feeling that same sense of ancient wonder that eclipses instilled in all of us forever. >> those six astronauts, chad, will have a totally unique vantage point, view, of this eclipse as it moves across the united states, and as you've been saying, and saying very, very important, that they're going to be able to glean

important scientific information from this, but once again, explain to viewers what kind of scientific information the best scientific information will they be able to obtain? >> it's looking at the corona, wolf. it's looking when you get totality, it's the view you can't get any other time. yes, you can put a disc in the way of the sun and get a man-made, partial eclipse and try to get a reading from that. but when you take a body, not just a piece of plastic, and you don't block it with a piece of plastic in front of the scope, you block it with a body of rock way out there in space, you get a much clearer view. the edges are much clearer, although, of course, there are the craters on the moon. the edges of that corona. the prominences we saw. they were amazing. three of them. one to the north, one to the northeast and one to the east itself looking at it from northeast to south. but the prominences that we could see there. these explosions from the sun. these coronal mass ejections we

night get to see one if something small out here. these are the things that can affect the world in the future and the more we know about them, the more we can protect the world from electromagnetic storms. from brown outs and black outs because of this power coming from the sun itself. the more we know, the better we can prepare. the better we can prepare, we can do and cause less damage our infrastructure, when it happens. there is going to be a coronal mass ejection that flies to the earth at some point in time in probably my lifetime and yours, too. that will affect the earth. a lot of times go one way because of three dimensional. could dough behind the sun. if one shoots right at the world, all of a sudden a charged of the world not only north lights, also power grids get charged. computers get charge pd things go down and crash and things go bump in the night and there could be billions of dollars in damage that we could maybe aleve great we know more how to get our systems down, quickly it

moves, what frequency things are coming in, what speed they're coming in. just so much that the world depends on that cell phone of yours. this cell phone could launch the atlas 5 rocket of years' past. it's so technically advanced. all that technology is now at some point going to tumble down if we get too much electromagnetic from the sun. >> chad, look at this. right side of the screen, casper, wyoming, david, about to have a total eclipse. you see the camera moving a bit. complain what we're about to see in casper, wyoming, as oppose to hailey, idaho. >> in hailey, the clip is getting larger because it's after totality. but in casper, wyoming, just before. sort of, think of the crescent as smile getting narrower and narrower and amazing at this point, it's gone.

>> there it is. total eclipse in casper, wyoming. >> at this point take filters all right cam that they will see the corona. >> you see it -- there it is. >> there you go. >> yeah. explain why that corona now has appeared? >> the corona is -- very, very faint. relative to the rest of the sun. so even though it's always there, we can't see it, because we're blinded by sunlight. that would be true on the ground. true in space. true anywhere. but once that corona is cut off by that occulting disc, the moon, a quarter million miles away, as correctly pointed out there, the very sharp limb between the moon's -- limb there and the sun being exactly the same size, let's us only see the faint light that is in the outer atmosphere of the sun. that is what we're seeing now. the key of a total solar eclipse, we can see the whole corona.

and important processes are taking place. >> this total eclipse will last minutes, about, and slowly all of a sudden the sun re-appears? >> exactly right. >> it will re-appear quickly. in that, what's called a bailey's bead, the bright portion of the sun coming back and the contrast is so great it overpowers the corona. that's all you see. sort of like a diamond ring effect, it's called. >> so if on the ground now in casper, wyoming, it's dark. >> oh, yeah, yeah. >> you might get confused and think it's nighttime? >> well, i mean if i was a burling creature i'd start looking, where am i supposed to be going now? >> animals confused on what's going on. >> definitely. >> we could reassure the animals, the first time a total eclipse path has gone across the

united states in 99 years. >> exactly. >> since 1918. the last time. the last total eclipse, not completely across the united states. >> exactly right. >> this is a moment we're watching this total eclipse. this is in casper, wyoming. shortly -- we'll keep this picture up for viewers. tell viewers what to anticipate. >> at this point with the sun just now -- there it goes. that's the bead. there's the diamond ring effect. and now, of course, that's overexposing. put the filter back on. right. doing it right. >> doing the filter. >> yep. whoops. got to get that filter on. yeah. i hope they didn't burn off pixels in the camera. >> yeah. that sunlight is very, very intense. got to be really careful. have a lot of filters. >> there we go. >> here it comes. all of a sudden, the sun will come back out. >> that's right. >> and people all across the eclipse path from west to east are seeing this in sequence.

just an incredible thing to realize. so many millions of people are able to see this. when we were in libya, we were in, in 2006, the desert was empty, except for about 1,500 crazy people yelling and screaming at the top of their heads. >> the government at the time of that moammar gadhafi allow you in. >> they allowed an taitalian cruise ship in and we were on that sponsor and directed by a magazine called "sky and telescope." but italian cruise ship. >> chris hatfield, weigh in as well. what do you think, chris? >> ah, it's just so magnificent to see something we haven't talked about, wolf, and that is just as the sun is disappearing behind the moon, and then just as it's re-appearing, as the first hint of that light is coming down, the light can get sort of bent a little bit through the atmosphere.

sort of like how stars twinkle. if you look under just the right conditions you can see these big wavy bands of life on the ground. not always. you can see those, like snakes of light slivering across the ground. i'm curious to see if any of the people across the country got the right combination of everything so they got see that extremely rare and bizarre effect from a xlps xlsolar ecli >> saw that in casper, wyoming. moving towards beatrice, nebraska. live pictures from there as well. we have a lot more special coverage coming up. we need to take a quick break. unfortunately, beatrice, nebraska looks cloudy now but we have cameras all over the country as this total eclipse moves across the country from oregon, to idaho, to nebraska, moving towards south carolina. our special coverage continues right after this quick break.

♪ ♪ it feels good to be back. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

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looking at live pictures coming in right now from missouri, blackwell, sinclair, where in a few minutes the skies will go completely dark, as the moon eclipses the sun. welcome back to our special coverage. also joining us is chad myers, stephanie elam, david did voccen, chris hatfield. chaz, what's happening now? >> we just lost totality over casper, north of cheyenne, almost into scottsbluff, nebraska, grand island, wood river, aurora, back towards lincoln, then finally sliding off into mo. we're right in this area where you're starting to gain more in the way of eclipse and starting to lose the eclipse back out here. in the middle part of the

country, that's where we're seeing the rain showers. this was an absolutely perfect place to be for the eclipse. this not so perfect. the showers popped up in the warmer part of the morning and they're hanging around. if you're in nashville, one of the biggest parties in america is going on right now. knoxville, back on over to about columbia, south carolina, eventual into charleston. this is a beautiful swath of no cloud cover, and then finally to the shore, that's where the rain is back. there are so many people, isle of palms, charleston, to the north of savannah, just south of myrtle beach, being disappointed by the rainfall. sometimes the sea breeze can make it go away, wolf, but we'll have to see. one thing i want you to notice, if you're in chicago, if you're in dallas, central park, if you're getting part of the solar eclipse, i want you to look down under a tree, and i want you to

notice that everywhere there should be a little circle of sun, there will be a crescent shape there. all these pinhole cameras you make, every place there's a pinhole in a tree between the leaves, every one of those shadows will be in the shape of a crescent. pretty cool. >> secret cool indeed. stephanie, there were weather issues there in missouri. how is it holding up? >> reporter: it's not. you just have to laugh about it at this point, wolf, because it is coming down now. our non-fearful australian friends, let's go back and talk to them. you've been to more than one eclipse, right? there are a lot of people leaving here now, even though we still have about 15 minute toss go until we hit totality. are they being premature? >> i think they are. part of this eclipse experience is experiencing totality where

things go quiet, animals go away, people get really excited. it's quite an event in itself. >> reporter: even though -- i mean, it looks like we won't get any breakthrough of the clouds, it looks pretty covered up, you still think it's worth being here? >> oh, definitely. wouldn't miss it. >> how in advance did you plan your trip? >> 18 months. >> reporter: 18 months in advance you planned to be here in this field in st. joseph, missouri. >> yeah. >> reporter: according to chad myers, this is the worst place we could have chosen to be based on the weather, not on location. >> when we did the planning, we based it on the statistical weather data, which showed this is a good place to be this time of the year normally. >> reporter: but you still are hopeful for a good eclipse. >> definitely. we won't see it, but we'll feel it and experience. it will go dark. >> reporter: if that optimism does not inspire you, wolf, he

is still optimistic, even though we're standing here in the rain pretty much wet from the top done. >> a very good man indeed caylee, you're in south carolina for us, isle of palms. you're getting ready to experience a total eclipse of the sun form what's it like. >> we are staying dry. >> you can begin toss the eclipse taking shape, and this sand sculpture, five hours of work, but this sculpture has come together. i want to bring in norma jean paige, who has organized the big eeven that isle of palms has

been experiencing. >> we've been planning over a year, not knowing what to anticipate, but it's been a fun ride. we've enjoyed it. the crowds are probably the biggest we've had in a long time, similar to fourth of july, but larger. so it's been fun. >> less than an hour from -- heath is still with us. joining us from brisbane. an u.s. astronaut, a former commander of the international space station. this is a moment that folks like you wait for all the time, chris, because it is so powerful, and indeed shall i say emotional? it's very technical, very difficult, but it's also imme e

immensely personal, wolf. for the six crew up on the space station, they are right overhead fiji right at this moment, racing across the pacific. i know that all 12 of their eyes, all six of them have their eyes staring straight ahead in order to see as the shadow is crossing across the u.s. they'll make landfall in about 15, 20 minutes, and will have every camera they can get, every sensor, so they can get as much science out of possible, but not to miss the personal experience to seeing misso rare, so ethereal. everybody who goes through it feels that personal po touch. david, you felt it several times. i can see you're sitting next to me, you're feeling it right now. >> absolutely. i did go to an eclipse, an annualer eclipse, when you get a

complete ring, so we went down to richmond, virginia, there was supposed to be one at the berkeley plantation, we sought out there, and it was cloudy, completely, about you it still darkened. we got that darkening. we walked away from there, though, i had the best fried chicken i ever had. >> what was that. >> annular eclipse. i used to think it was annual eclipse, but it's annular. >> do we knee who the next time this will occur when we will see it kind of total eclipse move across the united states? >> absolutely, 2024. >> that's pretty close. >> it's really very close. in fact carbondale, illinois will see it again, because it's totality in both of the paths.

the next one will go from the southwest to the neortheast, starting in texas, ending in maine. it will be even a little longer. >> longer, what does that mean? >> that means the moon -- instead of 2 1/2 minutes it mike three minutes? that could make a big difference. >> absolutely. >> tell us why. >> the longer it is, the more data you can collect. the sun is such a dynamic engine that's it's changing every tenth of a second. >> people are gearing up? >> i know some of my khaleds are talking about, where will they start in texas or maine? >> that's it for me.

i'm going to end our coverage for now, but we won't leave -- i will leave anderson with this challenge. you can see my solar eclipse lenses right here. i want to see what they look like on you as well. anderson cooper picks up our special eclipse coverage right now. >> wolf, thanks very much. the day the sun disappeared, we have already seen some incredible moments, from moments, parts of nebraska and missouri, as it passes between us and the sun, the nation is listening the first solar eclipse from coast to coast in 99 years. a short time later, thought on the east coast will experience all the excitement for themselves. you'll see the month completely