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

Smaller Deimos on the other hand is slowly escaping Mars. Eventually it will fly off into space and leave a lonely red planet behind. So in a few hundred million years Mars will be moonless and on its own, unless it manages to catch itself another asteroid.

source: Kurzesagt – In a Nutshell 

Answer the questions.

1) What is the estimated size of the moons of Mars?

2) Why are the moons of Mars not spherical in shape?

3) How did the moons get to Mars’s orbit?

4) What will happen to Phobos in 50-100 million years?

5) Why will Mars end up being ‘lonely’?

Key

1. It’s about the size of some of the smallest states of Earth, like Luxemburg and Malta.

2. Their gravitational pull isn’t strong enough to bring them into spherical form.

3. They were once part of the asteroid belt until Jupiter’s massive Gravity kicked them out of it. So Mars could catch them. 

4.  It will be either ripped to pieces by Mars’s gravity and be transformed into a beautiful ring or it will crash into Mars.

5. The moon Deimos is slowly escaping Mars and eventually it will fly off into space.