>> for the first time in nearly a century a total solar eclipse will cross the u.s. day will turn tonight. for many work will stop temporarily and all eyes will be trained on the heavens. many of us have our special glasses ready. i've got mine. many others may still be searching for a pair. so what exactly we expect to see? why is this such a big deal and what are we going to get out of it other than a few minutes or hours of

he's heading to one of the cities in the coveted path of totality. >> yeah, later on this afternoon which is going to be great and then tomorrow have to get up at 6:30 in order to get there because they expect upwards of 100,000 people. i'm going to clemson, university. they're giving out 50,000 pair of glasses that day. we have to get there early to make sure that we get a spot. >> you're going to be in a traffic jam. >> pretty much. >> it's attend of a rather narrow path that begins in oregon and stretches across the country. since here in washington we won't see what people directly in the path of totality will see, paint a picture for us. what are they going to see that we're not going to see.

in the path? >> of course of all we'll see the eclipse here as well. partial eclipse. in the path of totality you see the sun completely blocked by the moon and so you see the outer atmosphere of the sun which you can't see normally because the disk of the sun is too bright. people in the path of totality will be able to see the outer atmosphere of the sun which is very exciting. >> they're going to see shadows that will be sort of other worldly? we understand. >> yes. what happens in totality is the sun's light is blocked so it's like you're in a moonlit night. the temperature drops a little bit. the animals get quite. vegetation responsd. it's as if nighttime came for 2.5 minutes. >> doug here in the washington ea

and how different is it going to be? >> a lot different. the biggest thing about it is being a partial eclipse we still have 18 or 19% of the sun still shining on us. >> that's a lot. >> that's a lot. a lot of solar energy making its way but it will be impactful here. there's a shadow moving across the region and i'm so kpietd even if i wasn't going to south carolina if i was still here i made sure my family has glasses so they can see this because it is maybe a once in a lifetime event for many of us. for me it was third grade i saw my last partial eclipse and we made some of the things we'll talk about to be able to view that. have fun with your kids. it's going to be quite fascinating. we cannot stress enough how important the glasses are. >> we'll

talk about timing. how long is the show going to last in the path of totality and here in the area where we will see the partial. >> the eclipse will last for about three hours. >> yeah. >> so plenty of opportunity to view it here and in the path of totality. totality itself lasts about, depends on where you are but it lasts 2 to 2.5 minutes. >> for most of us this is a must see once in a lifetime event but i understand that they happen all the time even though this is the first time that we have seen a total eclipse in the continental u.s. in 99 years. >> they happen everywhere. the next one is only 7 years away but that one is going from texas up to maine. there's going to be an eclipse next year. the next year is in antarctica. but they happen all across the globe so we'll be able to see it in north korea this time where eue

out where a couple of years from now europe might get one and we won't be able to see it. if you like to travel, i spoke to a guy, i saw a story on a gentleman that's seen 26. he travels. >> he's been moving around a lot. >> he's been moving around a lot studying the eclipse so it's really cool but for me to see my first one i'm so kpieexcited ab it. seeing this corona. not only can you not see witt the naked eye you can't see it with the telescope. >> that's the science of it. can i ask you to hold the answer until we take a break? we'll be right back. stay with us.

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scientists will study it. what are they going to learn? what are you going to be look at? >> the corona with spacecraft and balloons and teleskoeps on the ground. nasa has aircraft flying looking at the sun as well and the effects on the earth as quell. so there's experiments all along the path of totality that will give us more than two minutes here and two minutes there but 90 continues minus

it will be streamed live at nasa.gov/eclipse live and you can find out more information there. going to have a three hour event around the eclipse. these are people that have an interest in the sun. i'm going to consider myself an amateur scientist when it comes to eclipses. i'm so excited about it and learning so much about it and to be in the path of totality to, see the corona for a first time its a really big deal and you can't stress that enough. that's why so many people are coming into the path of totality. there's millions of people cramming along the 70 mile stretch. there's already 30 mile back ups two days ahead of the event in portions of oregon where they have a lot of the f

i love that the nation is coming together in something we can all see. >> yeah, see and study apps and other ways that scientists can actually participate and help nasa with. so tell us about those. nasa funded this so there's a lot of participation from the public as well as scientists across the nation. >> doug, amelia draper last week showed us a piece that talked about apps. there's all kinds of that allow you to measure the temperature where you are when you see it. and transmit that data to nasa as well. >> but they also want to know what happens during an eclipse so if you're out there in the eclipse wh

the flowers will actually close taupz sun goes away. the dogs, what are your animals doing? there's actual apps and we have those on our website where you can download these apps and you can be a part of the scientific experiment here to see what is happening out there with the environment as the sun goes away for awhile even though they're getting 82%. we're still going to have that effect here. >> so we're all looking forward to seeing this. let's talk about the various ways you can see it. so we have our glasses. and people are scrambling to get these. >> these are coveted. >> but this is not the only way. >> never look directly at the sun. these are filters that allow you to look at the sun that way. >> when you take them off you look down first. >> look down first before you take them off and you can look at the sun

glasses but you can also look at it indirectly so you can create your own pinhole camera by taking a piece of paper and making a small, small dot through it with a pencil and you can not look at the sun but let the sunlight stream through this pinhole here and the image will be projected on a flat surface over there and you can watch it indirectly that way. >> that's something i think kids would love doing. everybody has a cell phone and most of us that will be watching this total eclipse have never seen one before and now you have all of these millions of cell phones out there so i know there's people that would be inclined to use their phones to take pictures. how do you do that safely? >> again, never look at the sun. be

don't do it with your eyes unprotected. >> here's my phone. >> put your filter on the phone and you can use it by pointed at you and you can take pask of the eclipse that way. >> that's on the inside. >> so the sun is behind you again. >> can you put that on the outside of the phone? >> you could. >> it's more dangerous. >> in order to aavoid looking at the sun directly there's risks doing that unless you're wearing glasses yourself. so if you're wearing glasses. >> then pointing the camera directly at the sun is probably not a good idea. probably damages. >> i heard of using

and turning them around. >> no. >> don't want to do that. >> you need to have filters. you need to put the filter on the lenses here or on any type of optical equipment. >> forget what i said. we'll be right back. z2fwcz z16fz

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number one awarded. it's got to be tide >> they have plenty of cloud cover in the d.c. area. you're not going to see a lot. you'll still notice a darkening in your surroundings but we really want to see sunshine. i want to show you a couple of graphics here. this is when it starts here in our area. 1:17 in the afternoon the moon goes in front of the sun and at

about 81 to 82% so look pretty good and ending at around 4:02 and we think the peak time for us is between 2:20 and 3:00 in the afternoon. that's the time. if you have any time to get outdoors that's when you want to try to do it. weather wise looking good. 88 degrees. peaks at 2:42. we are expecting some clouds and showers later in the day so the best portion of this will be around right that 2:42 time but as it stands now most of the area will see it tomorrow and even if you have a cloud at 2:42 we're going to see those clouds passing by. it's not going to be a totally cloudy day. you'll see clouds but also have enough time to watch at the clips in our area. >> and where your going t weather? >> i'm a little worried about south carolina. this time of the year it's similar to oea

of showers and thunderstorms around the time of eclipse and we're thinking we may have to get in our car and if we do the best place would be across the mountains and head over to tennessee so that's something we might have to do. wouldn't be too excited about that. five hours in the car but watching it in tennessee just as cool. >> if all of those people encounter unexpected showers or clouds what happens to the show and what are the alternate ways to see this? or does everything remain the same? >> you should never look at the sun directly accept during total eclipse time but you can watch a lot of the observations and activities all across the nation at nasa.gov/he eclipse live so that's a great way to

telescopes and aircraft looking at it and live screams. >> will your gps be effected by this. >> the eclipse can effect the upper atmosphere and the portion of the atmosphere but we don't want gattis pate having large scale issues with the communications or navigation. but that's something we're actually investigating. we funded experiments to look at the effects on the atmosphere. >> >> there's a few minutes where you can watch it with the naked eye. >> in the path. that's what i'm going to be doing. i'm going to have my glasses on and once i see the moon completely cover it and i'm able to look at the corona then i can look down and take my classes off and look around and you're in total darkness and the

things that are associated with nighttime there. i can watch it for 2:30 seconds. when the sun comes out on the other side, she was in sharls on the -- charleston and the sun started coming back out and the rosters started crowing. >> just like that. >> really amazing. >> but it's important to emphasize how important the timing is there so people don't think it's about covered now i can take my glasses off. that's not right, is it? >> exactly. you can watch with glasses until you start to see a diamond ring where the sunlight is streaming through valleys on the moon and you see a bright spot around the moon and then you'll see the

safe to take off your glasses for a brief moment. >> so should you set your watch for this? >> it's the picture you're talking about. that's the picture that you're talking about. that's going to be the last part before it goes completely dark and the first thing you'll see when it's coming back out. >> yeah. >> all right. bliek. we'll be right back. stay with us.

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eement. and switching has never been easier. get out of your contract with up to a $500 credit to help cover your early termination fee. go to fiosgigabit.com i think people should just be aware and careful. yes. so i can't speak to the traffic conditions but i think there's going to be a lot

a lot of people are going to be getting ready and going out to different places. >> this is just a great opportunity for kids to learn about astronomy and meteorologist and science in general. >> we live in such a great place. we have the smithsonian here doing a lot for us. the air and space museum are hosting people and they're giving away free glasses. these are highly coveted. you can't find them in a lot of places but the day of a lot of places will have them. the air and space museum will have them and the zoo will have them. take kids to the zoo and watch the eclipse at the zoo as well. they'll have glasses there as well but they'll probably run out but that's something fun you can do too. lite of areas all have events and all are on our website nbc washington dol. you can find them there but it's going to be a g

>> if you want to get your children interested in science ands a tr ands a ands and astronomy it's the per mekt lea -- perfect learning opportunity. >> you'll have lots of events. tell us about the events that you'll be taking part in and offering to folks in this area. >> nasa has events all across the path of totality. 15 different sites. you can find out about those at nasa.gov and safety tips and information about the eclipse as well. >> one thing we want to emphasize though is we don't want people to say it's dark and what's going on up there while they're driving. >> right.

happening and it's very exciting and hopefully everybody can view it and have a nice day doing it. >> it's a once in a lifetime thing for you isn't it? >> i hope not. i hope i get to see it again. we heard a story in oregon about a guy that built his house in the 70s ready for this one, i'm hoping to go to maine 7 years from now. great time to do it. during an eclipse. >> so once in a lifetime if we stay here. >> yes. >> because it happens all over the world. >> thank you for being with us and bringing all of your tools. especially the pinpoint idea and doug, you're going to be leaving soon, have a great trip. >> thank you. hopefully i'm not delayed. >> and hopefully it doesn't rain on you where you're going. >> that would be the worst. >> thank you for being with us doug and thank you that's news 4 your sunday. news 4 today is next.

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