A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partly obscuring the image of the sun for a viewer on Earth. A total solar eclipse occurs when the moon’s apparent diameter is larger than the sun’s, blocking all direct sunlight, turning day into darkness. Totality occurs in a narrow path across Earth’s surface, with the partial solar eclipse visible over a surrounding region thousands of kilometers wide.

The last time a total solar eclipse was visible across the entire United States was during the June 8, 1918 eclipse, and not since the February 1979 eclipse has a total eclipse been visible from anywhere in the mainland United States. The path of totality will touch 14 states, although a partial eclipse will be visible in all fifty states. The total area of the path of totality will be about 16% of the area of the United States, although most of this area is over the ocean and not actually over the United States. The event’s shadow began to cover land on the Oregon coast as a partial eclipse at 4:06 p.m. UTC (9:06 a.m. PDT) on August 21, and its land coverage will end later as a partial eclipse along the South Carolina coast at about 6:44 p.m. UTC (2:44 p.m. EDT).

There are expected to be logistical problems with the influx of visitors, especially for smaller communities. There have also been problems with the sale of fake eclipse glasses. In the months leading to the eclipse, counterfeits of light-filtering glasses for safe viewing of solar eclipses began proliferating, leading to concerns regarding safety. To be effective, eclipse glasses must filter visible, ultraviolet, and infrared light. The eye’s retina has no pain receptors, and thus damage could occur without a person being aware.

NASA created a website to provide a guide to this amazing event. Here you will find activities, events, broadcasts, and resources from NASA and its partners.

Future total solar eclipses will cross the United States in April 2024 (12 states) and August 2045 (10 states), and annular solar eclipses—meaning the apparent size of the Moon is smaller than that of the Sun—will occur in October 2023 (9 states) and June 2048 (9 states).

source: Wikipedia, NASA

Can you put the planets of the solar system into order? Start with the one nearest the Sun.

Key

Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune

The United States of America is the world’s third largest country in size. Located in North America, the country is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. Along the northern border is Canada and the southern border is Mexico.

More than twice the size of the European Union, the United States has high mountains in the West and a vast central plain. The landscape varies across the large country from tropical beaches in Florida to peaks in the Rocky Mountains, from rolling prairie lands and barren deserts in the West to dense wilderness areas in the Northeast and Northwest. Other main geographical features of the country are the Great Lakes, the Grand Canyon, the majestic Yosemite Valley, and the mighty Mississippi River. The Niagara Falls is one of nature’s most wonderful waterfalls and Alaska can also boast of over one thousand glaciers.

The Southwest is a beautiful stark landscape of prairie and desert. The American West, home of rolling plains and the cowboy, is diverse, ranging from endless wilderness to barren desert, coral reefs to Arctic tundra, Hollywood to Yellowstone.

The climate of the U.S. also varies depending on location. It is considered mostly temperate but is tropical in Hawaii and Florida, arctic in Alaska, semiarid in the plains west of the Mississippi River and arid in the Great Basin of the southwest.

mountain	plain	shore	peak
hegy	síkság	part	hegycsúcs
lake	canyon	valley	river
tó	kanyon	völgy	folyó
waterfall	glacier	desert	coral reef
vízesés	gleccser	sivatag	korallzátony

to be bordered – valami határol vaamit
mountain – hegy
plain – síkság
landscape – táj
to vary – váltakozik
beach – strand
peak – hegycsúcs
prairie land – préri vidék
barren – terméketlen
desert – sivatag
dense – sűrű
wilderness – vadon
lake – tó
canyon – kanyon
valley – völgy
waterfall – vízesés
glacier – gleccser
stark – kopár
rolling plain – dimbes-dombos síkság
coral reef – korall zátony
Artic tundra – sarkvidéki tundra
to depend on – függni valamitől
temperate – mérsékelt (éghajlat)
tropical – trópusi
artic – sarkvidéki
semiarid – félsivatagi (éghajlat)
arid – sivatagi (éghajlat)
basin – medence (földrajzi értelemben)