:00:00. > :00:00.called totality, when the sun completely blocks out, is blocked
:00:00. > :00:10.out by the moon on the Oregon coast, in 15 minutes.
:00:11. > :00:17.You are watching the BBC News special. This is the total solar
:00:18. > :00:22.eclipse happening across America. Skywatchers are in place to watch
:00:23. > :00:27.the spectacular sight. People in Oregon are watching it right now. We
:00:28. > :00:32.will bring you it live as it happens. Millions in America will
:00:33. > :00:39.have a ringside seat for this first total eclipse in the US for almost
:00:40. > :00:45.100 years. Seeing a total solar eclipse is like meeting God. And I
:00:46. > :00:50.am in Hopkinsville, Kentucky. These are the best seats in the house.
:00:51. > :00:55.Nasa has said this is the point of the greatest eclipse. Over the next
:00:56. > :01:00.30 minutes we will be speaking to experts and skywatchers as 40 states
:01:01. > :01:17.become shrouded in complete blackout.
:01:18. > :01:24.Hello, it is as rare as it is spectacular, total solar eclipse.
:01:25. > :01:29.Millions will see the moment when the moon passes in front of the sun
:01:30. > :01:37.and Dave turns tonight. It is the first time in 99 years when the
:01:38. > :01:41.darkness will cross from the Pacific to the Atlantic coast. This is set
:01:42. > :01:49.to be the most photographed and documented eclipse in history. This
:01:50. > :01:54.is the sight of a huge chunk of the son disappeared now by the moon. We
:01:55. > :02:00.have seen bit by bit over the last little while, more and more of the
:02:01. > :02:07.sun being obliterated as we prepare for the moment of totality when the
:02:08. > :02:10.sun disappears. We can go to the space scientist Maggie Aderin-Pocock
:02:11. > :02:20.who joins us on the line from Albany. Thank you for joining us.
:02:21. > :02:26.How excited are you? I am excited. We came out this morning and it was
:02:27. > :02:30.a bright day. The sun is still shining but it is chillier. It is
:02:31. > :02:36.bright sunshine but it is not quite right. When I looked through my
:02:37. > :02:41.solar eclipse glasses there is just a sliver of sun. The smile on my
:02:42. > :02:46.face is huge. It is incredibly exciting. Is it already getting
:02:47. > :02:55.darker? It is. It is funny because it is bright. It is not quite bright
:02:56. > :03:00.enough. It is bright but not quite bright enough because the sun has
:03:01. > :03:04.disappeared and yet it is significantly bright because
:03:05. > :03:10.although there is only six of the sun left, it is still a sunny day. I
:03:11. > :03:15.have my seven-year-old daughter here and she has the Cheshire cat smile
:03:16. > :03:20.as well. It is her first solar eclipse so she is very excited. Tell
:03:21. > :03:25.us more about getting the view. It is a very narrow belt as you get
:03:26. > :03:31.across these 14 states where you get this moment of totality? It is. I'm
:03:32. > :03:36.working down in California but over the last week we have been working
:03:37. > :03:43.our way to further north to get to totality. I think we will get about
:03:44. > :03:46.one minutes and 52 seconds. The maximum trap you can get is two
:03:47. > :03:53.minutes and four seconds. We are pretty close to that. Many people
:03:54. > :04:01.will be seeing it partial but seeing it in totality is where the real
:04:02. > :04:07.magic is. The moon will be the same size in the sky 's the sun. You will
:04:08. > :04:12.see the amazing prominences around the sun. I have seen it once before
:04:13. > :04:16.and it blew my socks off. I cannot wait to see it again. We are looking
:04:17. > :04:21.at pictures which have come from Nasa where you saw the golden sun
:04:22. > :04:28.moments before it flicked back to the lives shot in Oregon. There are
:04:29. > :04:30.so many people and telescopes focused on this event. How many
:04:31. > :04:41.people have gathered around with you? Albany is quite a small town.
:04:42. > :04:48.There are probably about a thousand people. People have cameras,
:04:49. > :04:52.telescopes, solar states and solar eclipse glasses. Everyone is
:04:53. > :04:59.admiring the view and waiting for that moment of totality. We have our
:05:00. > :05:07.lucky as we have clear sky. We are in the dial -- we are in the ideal
:05:08. > :05:11.spot. Thank you for talking to us and over the next half an hour as we
:05:12. > :05:17.watch these pictures come in. I am joined by Doctor Ellison Drake from
:05:18. > :05:27.the Royal astronomical Society. We will go straight to Kentucky now
:05:28. > :05:32.where Neda Tawfik was there with some people now. What is it like? We
:05:33. > :05:38.actually had an announcement. We all looked up in the sky because we have
:05:39. > :05:43.had first contact. You can see a little bit of a sliver of the sun.
:05:44. > :05:50.Everyone is throwing on their eclipse glasses. The weather is
:05:51. > :05:56.absolutely perfect. With me are Shane and Ginny Simmons. They have
:05:57. > :06:01.travelled all the way from Texas. We drove ten hours to get here so we
:06:02. > :06:06.are really excited. It was so interesting what you talked about,
:06:07. > :06:13.how mind-boggling it is to imagine everything to work out. The fact we
:06:14. > :06:18.are in the perfect spot in the universe for the eclipse and that
:06:19. > :06:38.the moon is one 400th the size of the sun, which is also 400 miles.
:06:39. > :06:42.Nasa calls it a cosmic coincidence. What have you been doing? Driving
:06:43. > :06:47.up, trying to stay cool and making sure I have my glasses on to watch
:06:48. > :06:52.the eclipse and having fun. And getting to know different people
:06:53. > :06:58.around here. That is a lot of fun. Have you ever experienced an event
:06:59. > :07:03.like this before? I have been to two Super Bowls and this is a lot
:07:04. > :07:09.better. I can always go to another one and this is once-in-a-lifetime.
:07:10. > :07:16.Iron experience you guys have never experienced a solar eclipse before?
:07:17. > :07:20.Never. What are you anticipating? I think everyone has seen a partial
:07:21. > :07:24.eclipse but it is nothing compared to a total eclipse. I have read
:07:25. > :07:28.everything in the books and magazines and the Internet and I am
:07:29. > :07:33.extremely excited to see the shadow and the darkness that will cover
:07:34. > :07:38.this. It is sweltering now and they say the temperature will drop. This
:07:39. > :07:45.is the perfect location almost to view that? Is that the reason why
:07:46. > :07:48.you chose this farm into boy-macro? We drove all the way to Hopkinsville
:07:49. > :07:58.because it is where the moon will cover the greatest proportion of the
:07:59. > :08:03.sun anywhere in the world today. And if you are not here, sorry, you
:08:04. > :08:09.should have been here. It is only one in 100 years so it is wonderful.
:08:10. > :08:13.And what about the community around you. This has been a great chance
:08:14. > :08:20.for people to get to know each other and take a break from their daily
:08:21. > :08:24.routine. There are people from all over the country, from Wisconsin and
:08:25. > :08:30.down south. There are a lot of festivals going on in nearby to
:08:31. > :08:35.boy-macro. Everybody is celebrating. Friendly people, very kind, sweet --
:08:36. > :08:43.a lot going on in nearby Hopkinsville. And four you will this
:08:44. > :08:50.be a religious experience, and experience of mother nature, what is
:08:51. > :08:54.this for you? Why was it so important to travel such a long way
:08:55. > :08:59.to make sure you had the best of you? It is our anniversary. It is
:09:00. > :09:05.also our anniversary. It is not really a religious thing to me that
:09:06. > :09:10.it is the perfect spot in the universe today to be. It is a
:09:11. > :09:18.once-in-a-lifetime event. You said this is like a religious experience?
:09:19. > :09:27.Macro oh, yes, our saviour and creator, Lord Jesus Christ, it is
:09:28. > :09:33.important. Ice pick to one person who saw a total solar clips, he said
:09:34. > :09:38.he was not religious but he compared seeing one to seeing God. You are in
:09:39. > :09:46.Texas, the next solar eclipse will be in Texas in 2024. IU still
:09:47. > :09:51.planning for that? Seven years in April. Why don't we take a moment to
:09:52. > :09:59.see what the progression is like now. How is it looking? The small
:10:00. > :10:03.sliver is probably 5% of the top right corner. It is a slow
:10:04. > :10:10.progression. I am still waiting for it to get to totality. That will be
:10:11. > :10:15.really interesting. And all around you can see on this small family
:10:16. > :10:22.farm everyone is looking up into the sky because that is where the big
:10:23. > :10:25.show is. And Nasa, for people who will not be here, they will be live
:10:26. > :10:29.streaming the event around the world. Do you guys have a lot of
:10:30. > :10:40.family who are jealous of you being here? Oh, yes. People asked us to
:10:41. > :10:48.put it on Facebook but we said they should drive up here. Two minutes
:10:49. > :10:57.will be our time. It is two minutes and 40 seconds, you will enjoy that.
:10:58. > :11:03.No photos, it it will be just great. That is the Simmons from Texas.
:11:04. > :11:07.Everyone is excited. Thank you. In a moment we will show
:11:08. > :11:15.you the live pictures coming from Oregon. You can see we're not that
:11:16. > :11:19.far-away. 1816 is the first moment in the United States where we will
:11:20. > :11:23.get totality. I read between last night saying tonnes of pressure on
:11:24. > :11:28.the moon to deliver today. Millions are watching. Watching today is
:11:29. > :11:33.Elissa Drake. We are not that far-away. I'm going to ask a stupid
:11:34. > :11:38.question first of all. Here we have the sun 400 times the size of the
:11:39. > :11:43.moon, how does the moon block it out? This is one of the things we
:11:44. > :11:47.call a fantastic celestial coincidence, the fact that the moon
:11:48. > :11:52.is so much closer to us than the sun means that when the moon passes in
:11:53. > :11:56.front of the sun it pretty much blocks out the face of the sun and
:11:57. > :12:05.that is a spectacular sight to see for everybody. Historically, people
:12:06. > :12:09.have been fascinated by this. Yes, since the beginning of time people
:12:10. > :12:19.have been able to observe eclipses. Before we had the technology to
:12:20. > :12:27.study them stop it was a pretty frightening experience for people.
:12:28. > :12:32.They had no idea what it was as it went dark and animals were utterly
:12:33. > :12:39.confused by it? Yes, even now animals get a little bit upset
:12:40. > :12:46.during the total solar eclipse. They think night time has arrived all of
:12:47. > :12:52.a sudden. And then at twilight they will go quiet. You have seen one
:12:53. > :12:57.yourself? I was lucky to see the almost total eclipse back in 1999 in
:12:58. > :13:06.the UK. It was a little bit cloudy on that day but it was a spectacular
:13:07. > :13:10.sight. Before I ask the question, we look at the live pictures. Bit by
:13:11. > :13:16.bit you see the sun disappearing. This is Oregon. This scene is
:13:17. > :13:24.replicated across 14 states before it gets to South Carolina as it goes
:13:25. > :13:30.coast-to-coast. It is really narrow belts. You have to be in this very
:13:31. > :13:37.small whip, this band of 70 miles across the United States to see this
:13:38. > :13:43.moment of totality. For the rest of the people they will just see a
:13:44. > :13:50.shadow. State-by-state that will mark its way across America. What
:13:51. > :13:55.are scientists hoping to learn? The fantastic thing is for scientists
:13:56. > :14:00.based in the US, bits gives them a fantastic chance to study the outer
:14:01. > :14:05.layers of the sun, the fun's atmosphere and Corona and this is
:14:06. > :14:10.pretty much the only time you can do that in such detail. It is an
:14:11. > :14:14.unprecedented experience for everyone. What are the questions
:14:15. > :14:20.scientists are looking for answers about because this is not in
:14:21. > :14:26.isolation, is it? All of this is linked, is relevant to us here on
:14:27. > :14:32.Earth and questions like the weather, for example? Exactly. It is
:14:33. > :14:36.studying the fun's Rohner which will help us understand solar winds and
:14:37. > :14:41.the space weather which is when the solar wind comes and hits the
:14:42. > :14:49.Earth's atmosphere and all kinds of things happen to our technology on
:14:50. > :14:55.so it does have tangible effect. Now I will switch to these pictures. I
:14:56. > :15:01.hate you take an intake of breath. It is glorious. These are pictures
:15:02. > :15:05.taken from an aircraft. I was saying in the introduction, they anticipate
:15:06. > :15:09.this will be the most photographed, the most watched, the most
:15:10. > :15:17.documented of total solar eclipses, beating the one that was in India
:15:18. > :15:22.and China almost a decade or so ago. It takes ten minutes or so for
:15:23. > :15:32.people who have witnessed one, it goes darker and you can see as I am
:15:33. > :15:38.speaking, it gets dimmer and dimmer. Why don't you explain, you are the
:15:39. > :15:43.expert? Depending on where you are watching from, it will be up for a
:15:44. > :15:49.slightly different amount of time. You are looking at something between
:15:50. > :15:54.one and two and a bit minutes. Look at that, absolutely spectacular.
:15:55. > :16:04.This is really fantastic viewing for people in the USA. Wow! You get
:16:05. > :16:12.these final few seconds where you get the edge, almost like a diamond
:16:13. > :16:17.ring. This is amazing. This is from Nasa's plane. I was also reading
:16:18. > :16:22.earlier that the astronauts on the International Space Station will see
:16:23. > :16:26.this three different times. They are incredibly lucky! That is really
:16:27. > :16:35.nice. What is that that we are seeing? It looks like a spectrum.
:16:36. > :16:42.That is fantastic. Is this live data? And then back to the Nasa
:16:43. > :16:50.plane with people on board watching the most extraordinary pictures. 14
:16:51. > :16:59.states this will go across. Why is the duration of totality different
:17:00. > :17:03.from state to state? It depends on your viewing angle. Some people will
:17:04. > :17:09.be plunged into darkness a bit longer than others but everyone will
:17:10. > :17:17.come back outside -- out the other side. We do not need to worry too
:17:18. > :17:23.much. It is slightly risky when you are there sky gazing. What is the
:17:24. > :17:27.best way for people to be watching all this? Never ever look directly
:17:28. > :17:32.at the sun. If you're lucky enough to be observing this, the best thing
:17:33. > :17:36.to do is to try and project the image through a pinhole camera or
:17:37. > :17:47.use your special solar eclipse glasses which have been handed out.
:17:48. > :17:58.There it is. Lovely. Those are the pictures from the ground of this
:17:59. > :18:08.total solar eclipse. Alyssa, do stay with me and look at those pictures
:18:09. > :18:13.and sit in awe. Bob Baer is in Illinois. He is an expert who has
:18:14. > :18:25.seen this several times over. He is chair of the eclipse committee at
:18:26. > :18:29.Southern Illinois University. I interrupted myself. That is what
:18:30. > :18:42.they describe as the diamond ring moment. Bob, I will come to you in a
:18:43. > :18:57.second. I got very excited about the diamond ring. Is that coming from
:18:58. > :19:04.Oregon? Yes, that is on the ground. Bob Baer, I interrupted you. Why is
:19:05. > :19:13.this the eclipse crossroads of America? We will see one eclipse
:19:14. > :19:19.today and another in April 20 24. The intersection of the paths of the
:19:20. > :19:27.lines of totality are a few miles south of me in Carbondale, Illinois.
:19:28. > :19:31.You get two bites of the cherry. You have seen this before. Give me an
:19:32. > :19:39.idea of how people react when they see this total solar eclipse? I saw
:19:40. > :19:44.my first total solar eclipse in Indonesia with a group of people. I
:19:45. > :19:50.was doing research but once I got my research going, I was excited to see
:19:51. > :19:55.it myself. Some people cheer, others get emotional. They do not know what
:19:56. > :19:59.to understand when they see the Corona up in the sky. I am
:20:00. > :20:09.interested to see the different reactions. Part of the project you
:20:10. > :20:13.run involved scientists and students all working together to track
:20:14. > :20:21.eclipses. How does it give you extra data and how does it all work? IMB
:20:22. > :20:29.Illinois coordinator and we have 68 volunteer teams across the country
:20:30. > :20:35.all taking data. We have one doing final calibrations. It is kind of a
:20:36. > :20:40.relay race across the country. They get totality date, they hand off to
:20:41. > :20:45.the next team and we have teams roughly every 40 miles across the
:20:46. > :20:54.country and we look to get continual coverage of the eclipse
:20:55. > :20:58.coast-to-coast. It is just staggering watching these pictures
:20:59. > :21:04.and I am sure you are seeing it as we speak now. Do you ever get tired
:21:05. > :21:09.of seeing something like this? I do not. I cannot see exactly what you
:21:10. > :21:15.are seeing. I'm seeing the crowds filling in our stadium. We just had
:21:16. > :21:20.first contact in Carbondale. We have a sell-out 14,000 people to watch
:21:21. > :21:25.this. I will never get tired of watching a total solar eclipse all
:21:26. > :21:30.looking at images of it. Bob, give me an idea about the crowds. It is
:21:31. > :21:38.broadly the best places to watch this are not from the main American
:21:39. > :21:43.cities, it is dotted towns along the way across 14 states. Where you are,
:21:44. > :21:46.Carbondale, it is the longest, two minutes 38 seconds of darkness. Just
:21:47. > :21:54.give me an idea of the amount of people who have been coming to these
:21:55. > :21:58.little places? Here on campus we have two minutes 38 seconds. That is
:21:59. > :22:06.the exact timing at our stadium just south of here. The most accurate is
:22:07. > :22:12.two minutes 46 seconds. I don't even know if people can get down the road
:22:13. > :22:16.to get to some of those places. We have 14,000 inside the stadium and a
:22:17. > :22:21.lot more people outside, people flooding into these areas across the
:22:22. > :22:24.country to see this. Bob, briefly, because we are looking at the
:22:25. > :22:33.diamond ring. What are you hoping to learn from all of this, one
:22:34. > :22:41.sentence? A better idea of the interaction between the Earth and
:22:42. > :22:47.the sun. Thank you for joining us for our special coverage. Let's go
:22:48. > :22:52.back to Alyssa Drake. How long will it take scientists to find answers
:22:53. > :22:58.from all of the data coming in? I imagine that will be quite a feat
:22:59. > :23:03.actually. It will be several months of really intensive data analysis, I
:23:04. > :23:09.would imagine. It is a long period to get scientific results. I was
:23:10. > :23:13.reading comments by you earlier, you were hoping that the fascination in
:23:14. > :23:18.this, the science involved, it was one of those things like music or
:23:19. > :23:23.sport that brings people together. Tell me more about that? I really do
:23:24. > :23:28.think that the total solar eclipse is a fantastic way of getting people
:23:29. > :23:32.interested in astronomy, interested in science, and it brings together
:23:33. > :23:38.people from across the entire world. It is a wonderful way of getting
:23:39. > :23:43.people to collaborate. This one in the United States, where are they
:23:44. > :23:49.anticipating the next total solar eclipse? It will be quite a long
:23:50. > :23:56.time and to the next total solar eclipse. 73 years from now in the
:23:57. > :24:01.UK. Maybe something sooner in the US. So this is the moment to grab
:24:02. > :24:07.the data, see the pictures. This is the moment. It is amazing as we
:24:08. > :24:13.continue to watch the pictures. How long does it take to go from one
:24:14. > :24:18.coast to the other? I am not sure how many hours it will be, one hour
:24:19. > :24:25.and a half I think to go from one to the other. Whereas here in the UK it
:24:26. > :24:29.will be about 40 minutes long. And you mentioned, it is interesting
:24:30. > :24:35.because at the very tail end of this, in Europe, in England, in the
:24:36. > :24:40.northern parts of Scotland, you will get an element of this if you look
:24:41. > :24:45.up? If we are very lucky, depending on the weather, we might see a small
:24:46. > :24:50.bite taken out of the sun at around eight o'clock tonight in the UK. I
:24:51. > :24:56.want to go back to the moment of totality that we saw earlier, as we
:24:57. > :25:02.see the eclipse, the moon passing in front of the sun, and then we saw
:25:03. > :25:07.the glimpse of the sun from the other edge. I hope to get to those
:25:08. > :25:14.pictures in a few seconds just before we close. Just as we continue
:25:15. > :25:19.to watch these pictures, we are nearly done for time, Alyssa. Just
:25:20. > :25:25.in terms of this moment, what do you make of a moment like this? What do
:25:26. > :25:30.I make of a moment like this? It brings to the forefront of your
:25:31. > :25:36.mind, philosophy, science and a sense of community. There you have
:25:37. > :25:41.some bit up! Alyssa Drake, thank you for being with me for the course of
:25:42. > :25:48.the last half an hour as we continue to see that ring at the moment of
:25:49. > :25:53.totality as this total solar eclipse continues to arc across America.
:25:54. > :26:00.Thank you for watching on this BBC News special. Continue to watch us
:26:01. > :26:04.as we continue to chart the events in America. Goodbye for now.