Zones call 2027488000. And for those of you in the mountain and mask time zone, 027488001. Joining us first up from the Goddard Space CenterVisitors Center is shawn goldman, a Research Space scientist for nasa. Good morning and welcome to the program. Shawn thank you. Host what are you looking for today . Guest im getting my daughter and going to enjoy the beauty of the eclipse. Even though im a scientist when Something Like this happens you enjoy the scenery because it will be awesome because no matter where you are in the United States youll get to join us which is special. Host walk us through the mechanics. Guest the moon will pass in front of the sun. Anywhere you are in the United States youll see a black disk from the moon moving across the disk of the sun. Well talk about it in a bit. You wear solar glasses when looking at it. When youre in the path of totality, moving from oregon to cape lookout, south carolina, and youll know if youre there, you probably made plans in advance if youre there. Then youll see during the total Solar Eclipse, the entire sun will be blocked by the moon. Then youll see basically nighttime pop up and youll see mars and mercury and the night sky and Something Like a sunset effect around the horizon. For the rest of us like here in d. C. Where were doing this interview today, well see basically that black disk moving across the sun. Host theres still a value even if youre not in the totality path . Shawn it will be awesome to watch so make sure you have the safety glasses and some way to watch it that wont damage your eyes or camera equipment. Theres something so see no matter where you are in the 48, youll seat partial eclipse. You dont have to drive anywhere. If youre not in the path of totality, dont hop in the car now to get there, you can do it outside your office. Host the moon passes in front of the sun all the time. What makes it different . Shawn the moon is in an angular orbit with regard to the earths orbit around the sun and only once in 18 months or so the moons orbit land just right to get an eclipse like this. What makes is more special is it is happening in north america. I have friend and colleagues who travel across the globe to watch these total Solar Eclipses but they dont have to go anywhere for this one and neither does anyone at home. You can go outside and enjoy it. Host you referenced the glasses. Why dont we talk about them now. Ive seen people clamor to the internet and people go to 7eleven for these. What makes these glasses special . Shawn we cant see each other. We have these great studio lights and cant see those. They block out almost all the light coming in. These arent sun glasses but special solar glasses. Kid put them over my regular glasses and theyll do just fine. But the sun is superbright. If you look at the sun right now before the eclipse starts, its going to be way too bright for you to withstand it. Youll just look away right away because it otherwise will damage your eyeballs. These solar glasses will help protect your eyes against it. You can try them out now. If you have solar glasses at home, take them outside and put them on and make sure you cant see anything except the sun. If thats the case you know theyre good. Host how do you know you have the right kind of brand . Is there some type of identifier themselves . Shawn an i. S. O. Standard written on the inside. If you have time before the eclipse, go to our website, eclipse2017. Nasa. Gov and will direct you to the website with a reputable provider of the eclipse glasses. If youre unsure, the best test is you should be essentially blind when wearing them to everything except the sun and thats how to check them. Host tell us about goddards role in this. What will they be doing . Shawn we have stuff like this, people reaching across the path of totality and doing media interviews to talk about what we are about to see. Were nasa so were throwing everything we have at this, we have satellites around the earth and moon and sun that are watching the sun and the earth and moon during this eclipse event. Just to get an awesome imagery from space. He also have all kinds of Citizen Science experiments and way to let people watch the eclipse from home. If youre not in the path of totality, go to nasa. Gov eclipse testify live and watch a total Solar Eclipse. Were doing everything we can to share this awesome event. Host well talk with your chief scientist but what types of science what do you learn most about studying the sun but what areas of science benefit from today . Shawn one is when you look at the sun, because its so bright it hurts your eyes, for the same reasons it damages our optical instruments we use on our spacecraft and telescopes. When the eclipse happens, the moon is actually perfect at blocking out the suns light, even better than most of the instruments we design at nasa. Youll see very, very close to the sun. Theres physics there, we just dont understand and any time theres physics you dont understand scientists get excited about getting more information out of it. Thats the main science return well get. If people want to get involved in eclipse science, you can get a globe app from nasa and download that and theres an n. S. F. Experiment. These are about measuring the temperature and cloudiness during the eclipse. Dont just report the temperature you see from the cell phone like the weather station or whatever. This is only if you have a thermometer. The other thing is n. S. F. Has an experiment measuring the birds and bees and all the sound nature makes during the eclipse. Some animals, especially in totality might think its nighttime. Host if you have twitter and apps and all that, is there a way for the public to interact with you about what theyll experience . Shawn i recommend following the nasa accounts because people do a professional job getting the awesome imagery and follow me at shawn d. Goldman but what comes from the official nasa accounts, follow them and see some awesome images. Host shawn does work for nasa and is at Goddard Space Center to talk about the total eclipse. Hell join us later but for now thank you, sir. Shawn thank you. Host you heard him talk about todays event not only from science but the personal and Public Interest in. Were inviting you to call us if you want to talk to us about what you plan to do today. Do you plan to follow the eclipse, are you traveling or staying at home . Maybe you dont care. Give us a call and give us a sense of what youre doing. 2027488000 for you in the eastern and central time zone and 2027488001 in the mountains and pacific time zone. Lets start off our calls with charles in alexandria, virginia. Charles, did morning. Youre first up today, go ahead. Charles hello and good morning. Im enjoying this very much. My brother lives in syracuse, new york. He has driven to bowling green, kentucky, which is going to get possibly the longest period of totality over two minutes. Hes a wicken, they worship nature and when the eclipse happens theyll sing and dance and chanted a all that kind of stuff. Hes really going to have a good time about it. I want to talk about an eclipse i saw back in 1992, i was in bowling green, kentucky, and there was eclipse event. And i used the method of poking a hole in a card and holding a card down to project the eclipse and saw it that way. And at the same time the trees in my back yard, a lot of them had little pinholes and when the eclipse happened, it projected hundreds and hundred of eclipses all over the ground and it was really spectacular. And so host you talked about your brothers experience. Youll go out and experience it for yourself today . Caller it worked out good, my wife is flying from moscow at the Dulles Airport and ill drop her off at the airport and head away from town and have a little more privacy and not quite the mob scene. Host charles in alexandria, lets go to tulsa, oklahoma. This is david. Good morning. Caller good morning. Im at a middle school in tulsa. Ive been preparing for this for two weeks at least. For the Solar Eclipse. Fabulous Science Teacher. And we have glasses, the gentleman said before pinholes in cards. So we have plans to take as many of our students who want to go outside during the eclipse to go outside. And those who want to stay inside can stay inside and watch it on streaming video. We also have some of our students taking the temperature for nasa and doing a lot of statistics that nasa has requested online. So its going to be its a very exciting day at school. Host is this a first eclipse for you . Caller it is, the first one i remember, though i think i heard some place the last one where there was an eclipse like this was 99 years ago and im not 99 years old, this would be the first. I may be wrong on that, somebody can correct me on that. I dont know. But it is the first and its quite delightful to watch students who are excited to come to school, excited about something thats happening. And as i said, we have a Science Teacher who really takes advantage of the situation such as an eclipse to get our students involved and helping nasa. Host david in oklahoma. The Goddard Space Flight Visitor Center is where we are today, about a halfhour or so north of washington, d. C. And where nasa does its work on space flight and this is the Visitor Center and today is about the Solar Eclipse. You heard our first guest talk about it. Well have a nasa scientist joining us later, sherry from atlanta, georgia. What do you expect today, are you in that area where you might see a total eclipse or partial one . Sherry good morning. And i love cspan and im very excited about this. I grew up with both my parents pilots and my father was very into all this. And as young children, as long as i can remember, we were laying on the yard watching him pointing out the stars, constellations to us and then when the astronauts went up and so its always been a thing with me. And i got my license. Theyre saying for savannah, 97 total although weve got a little weather coming off the coast that might, might hamper it. But charleston is like a hop, skip and jump up the road like 90 miles so i may get in the car and a true native and being a pilot, ive got a few back routes i can get up there and maybe out on to the beach, some beaches that i know that are private and im very excited about it. I have seen some partial eclipse before. Like i said, its just been a thing for me. Im a meteor watcher and i know about the times of all those every year. So i think its exciting and great yall have a show like this today and for once we can forget about all the insanity going on around us. Host not only this program today but later on in the afternoon right after the eclipse happens, we are planning a special programming on cspan that you can watch online as well on television. You can interact with us on social media. So tune in for that special program this afternoon on cspan. Again, if you want to go to our website, cspan. Org, leading up to todays events and not only will you see a briefing nasa did to talk about it with several of its scientists, we had interview with professors and scientists from universities across the United States to talk about different perspectives of science and technology. One interview youll find someone who observed this event 26 times. You can see that online as well. All that available to you at cspan. Org. An Early Morning for ken in huntington beach, california. Ken, go ahead. Caller yes, thank you. I always enjoy your show, pedro, especially when youre on. Im not a nasa scientist but i do remember my elemental science courses. Now, you can take a card and poke a hole in it and put a piece of paper about three feet down below the card. Dont look at all in the sun but you can watch the reflection of the eclipse on that piece of paper. Anyway, i thought id mention that because i heard nobody say that. Host is that how you plan to watch today . Caller yeah, more than likely. Host thanks for the tip. Regon. One of the first places that will see the eclipse. John is from lyon, oregon. Go ahead. Caller hi, how are you this morning . There was i think in 1979 a partial eclipse. I think i was there. I cant remember if i saw it, i cant remember when i was young. Im sorry i am excited about seeing this one. It will be my last one. Im 79. And i dont think ill make it o the next one anyway. Host so youre one of the first states. Youre living in one of the first states that will see that totality. How close are you to that . Are you in an area youll see a total eclipse . Do you plan to travel or stay put . Caller no, ill stay put. I go out in my pasture because its going to be right over us just about. Sort of excited about it. I was listening to the tv earlier, and they were saying that theres 9,000 people came to the capital from all over the world to watch it. Theres 9,000 people that will be at the fair ground, state fairgrounds. Cant believe that. You have a good morning. Host thank you. Martha in michigan. Youre next. Good morning. Caller hi. Ive got two questions. I dont have the glasses that you need to look at this. Is it possible to just point my eye phone at it and not take a picture but just view it through my eye phone, number one. And number two, if its cloudy, which it is supposed to be here today, can i look up without glasses or iphone . Host those are two excellent questions. And i know when it comes to the iphone, ive seen some that say its ok and ive seen some that say it should have some type of shielding in front of it. I dont know the exact answer to that one or the other one but make sure i remember it when i talk to a scientist in a little bit. Perhaps those in the audience who may know the answers to this, go ahead and give martha your help. Tell me a little bit about your interest in this . Caller actually, i wasnt interested into it at all until i went to a Party Last Night and thats all everyone talked about and i called my son in North Carolina and he said hes going to have 98 coverage and so i thought well, maybe its worth going outside for so thats what ill do. I think ill look at it host so with all the talk about it you werent interested until last night . Caller i thought it was an odd thing to get excited about. I guess maybe im wrong. Ill find out today. Host martha in michigan. Well hear next from clifton. Good morning. Caller hey, pedro, how are you doing . I saw the eclipse in 1979 and i first saw it when i was 10 years old in the washington, d. C. Area. And when i was 10 there was all the talk about the pinhole through the paper and everything and then my buddies were figuring out how to get cardboard. And my father said son, get the bucket and get water in it and look at the eclipse that way. And we saw the eclipse through the reflection in the water and it alleviated that glare in the eye, hurting your eyes type of thing and me and all my little buddy has fun looking in the bucket of water seeing the reflection of the eclipse through a galvanized bucket. I was calling to wonder how come no one thought that of that as a solution to not hurting your eyes because it didnt hurt our eyes . Host thats the first i heard of it. Is that what youre doing today . Caller yeah. Im a caregiver so i will wheelchair the lady i give care to out there and take a couple gallons of water and im going to use a little lid to a bucket so i wont have to carry a big bucket out there and put water in it and going to look at it that way. Host just by yourself, will anybody else be with you out there watching . Caller some people will see us doing it and will come out and dot same thing or look in the mirror reflection as well. Its probably going to be fun for people to see, oh, wow, this is cool. I thought id share that. Host clifton in maryland giving us his thoughts and plans. It might be interesting to hear from those of you that might be at work and if your workplace will let you watch and how youll work around that, did you take the day off or anything else like that if you want to share those stories as well. Give us a call 2027488000 for the eastern and central time zones and 2027488001 for the mountains and pacific time zones. South carolina up next, goose creek. Hi, rose. Caller hello, this is rose, and im from south carolina. Im in goose creek, south carolina. And i work at medical university of south carolina. And what we are going to do is that they are going to have a watch party at the horseshoe and you know, theyre inviting people to come, employees to come, and theyre going to give us glasses so we can watch and everything. Then you also have the chance of either you stay there or can go home to i shoes to go home. The thing about it, i forgot my glasses at work so im wondering, should i is it important to go back and get the glasses or stay home and just watch it. Host if you heard our first guest of the morning, he was pretty adamant about the need for proper eyewear, especially during this event. I guess probably with that in mind it probably would be best to head on home and grab the class glasses and go back. How many people will be watching with you at this watch party . Caller you know what happened, i think we have everybody who wants to come. Its probably about im not sure but theyll have food trucks and going to have music and all that stuff. Im not sure how many people will come because its smed universities so im not sure. Its going to be exciting. My first one was when i was in jamaica, im from jamaica originally. And that was when i was in high school. So it was fun to watch it. But we didnt know anything about wearing glasses and stuff so we just watch it. Thats the idea of wearing the glasses, i have to go back as you said and ill take your advice and go back and get glasses and maybe ill be on the root. Im not sure. We are expecting a lot of people coming in. In charleston, well be the last person to see it. So it will be the last opportunity it. So were expecting houses thousands of people. In fact the hotels are all booked out at this moment. Its exciting. Im totally excited about the whole thing. Its going to be fine. Its a marvelous sight to behold and with the whole world watching and everything. I think its exciting. Host gotcha, rose. Thanks very much. Rose is just one of the people calling in and telling us about their experience about this total Solar Eclipse that is happening today. For those along the path youll see it and outside that youll see a partial eclipse as you heard our guests say. Giving us your thoughts about it, david in new mexico. Hi there, good morning. Aller good morning. Host go ahead . Caller can you hear me now . Host go right ahead. Aller in loss cruise es in los cuces, new mexico, we wont see a thing, were way too south and will probably have to watch it on television. Host leading up to this did you have any interest on going any place to see it or not able to perhaps see it today . No, were not going to go see it. The last one host whats your interest in it . Caller about 50 years ago in the 1960s i was on the playground at my Elementary School and that was the first time i was introduced to the pinhole camera to see the eclipse and it was just a our local newspaper has a picture of the last one, they called it an annular from biophoto in denver about five years ago. Host lets go next to ohio. This is richard. Hi, richard. Good morning to you. Caller oh, pretty good. For one, i watch your show all the time. Its fantastic. I like your show. Have two questions. Can you hear me . Host go ahead. Youre on. Caller the two questions i have, one is is during the full inter eclipse, what does the effect on earths gravity have when that happens. And the second question is the mayans on their long count calendar have written in there of major events happening on what they call the black or the full black sun event, which is actually the eclipse. And i just that was my second question. Host so let me talk to you about these questions that youre asking, then. What prompted them . What up expired you to think about this . Well, i love history and i like nautical space, the planets, and like the things thats happening on our planet, and i would like to know a lot more about it. Host what well do i cant answer with you in any accuracy or experience so i will just tell you that much but in our 8 00 hour well be joined by the Goddard Space Flight Centers chief scientist and he can talk to about all these kind of things. Ill make sure to remember to myself to ask them about those questions that you brought up at least when it comes to the gravity and how thats affected. Make sure to tune in for our next hour for that information from the scientist. Anthony in missouri, kansas city, missouri. Hi. Caller how are you doing this morning . Host im well, thank you. Caller im really glad were not talking politics this morning. The eclipse is just a much more interesting thing. Every day should be it. Im out here in kansas city, missouri. Me and my wife will head up to st. Josephs missouri this afternoon and get out of here about 11 00 and were hoping to get into that mess of people. Supposed to be a bunch of people up there and the roads are supposed to be messed up. Right now they have areas where, you know, theres an influx of people, a couple hundred thousand people coming in one little area thats not used to it. It will be pretty neat. And you know just to see it with the glasses we have nowadays, im 54 and when we were a kid we did the same thing, through a piece of cardboard, now you have plastic you can actually look up at it. Ts going to be pretty neat. Host even with the people around youll get out in it, it wont bother you at all . Caller no, it will be the fun part. Like they say, too, well bring our animal with us. And they say animals arent just going to look up at the sun, they dont do it anyways. The wife wanted to leeven the dog at home. We tried to educate ourself as little bit. I dont want to take the dog out and dont want to put no glasses on her. We found out now really even animals are safe out there because they wont just look up at the sun. The only question i really have is, is it like something of the beginning of the eclipse, like you know what i mean, it starts in the sun until its a totality and then goes to the end of it. Is that the whole thing you cant look at or can you only look at it through the glasses and not hurt your eyes when its totality, you know what i mean . Host yeah, totally get you. Again, a little later well talk about the specifics for you and walk you through that. Your interest level, were you planning on making this trip and doing what youre going to do today, was that early on or in the last couple weeks, when did you city you were going to go for it . Caller we live in kansas city and have been planning it the last month. The closer it gets the more people are coming out this way to go see it. And its going to be a nice experience. Like i said, well get off early and try to get some pictures. We have a nice video cam la and were going to try the phones and all that. Hopefully well get a good shot of it, too. Make a good day of it. And then were going to drive around the country. Host good luck to you. Happy driving. Hope things go well for you today. If you spent the first halfhour with us, weve taken a detour off the program in our normal topics of discussion for today when it comes to politics. Today were going to talk about the Solar Eclipse taking place later on this morning. Oregon being the first state to experience it. Making its way through the United States and making it to the carolinas and well talk with specialists throughout the day and want to talk to you, too. If you want to continue with calls, do so. For those of you on the line, tay on a bit, 2027488000 for the eastern and central time zone and for those of new the mountain and pacific time zones, 2027488001. And one place in the United States, a featured city, lots of activities expected there is hopkinsville, kentucky. In fact, nasa declared this the point of the greatest eclipse at one point. Joining us on the phone to talk not only about that but what the city will experience is representative james comber, republican from kentucky and serves the First District which includes hopkinsville and paducah and commerceville. Thanks for joining us. Caller thanks for having me here today. Host what is it like nasa declaring you the eclipse city. Caller its a big deal for southern kentucky along the western border, tennessee, hopkinsville has been planning this event for probably seven or eight months. Theyve made a weekend festival out of it. Every hotel along the tennessee border, pretty much between nashville and bowling green, kentucky, everybody is books. Farmers are clearing their field for people to set up tents. We probably have more population in the first Congressional District today than weve ever had. Host how many people are you expecting . Caller hopkinsville said that they could get up to 100,000 people. So youre talking about a city ith a pop population roughly to,000 so the population will swell five times today. Its actually been that way all weekend. Also in franklin, kentucky, which is on interstate 65 between louisville and nashville, that town is full of people. I represent the land between the lakes area, the National Park there and its full of campers that have been camped out all weekend. This has been a huge economic boom for better than kentucky. Host even as you talk about it, congressman, theres a special website the town set up calling it eclipseville u. S. A. And seen a lot of response to that promotion . Caller yes, they actually has a coordinator who job promoting it and dont know how many tshirts theyve sold but hopkinsville is outside the Fort Campbell military base and hopkinsville is a pretty well known community but more so for fort ampbell. All the Law Enforcement and First Responders are on duty and we have police protection. There have been no incidents and the town is full and everybody having a great time and expecting a big show today. Host you said a town of 20 thousand, are they prepared for this influx, not only on the economic side but you talked about the safety aspects moving into the you feel certain the town is prepared . Caller im positive. I have to brag on mayor Carter Hendricks in hopkinsville. They have prepared for this for months. I met with the police chief, the fire chief, they a all hands on deck today. Its been a celebration all weekend. Theyve had vendors. Its just been like a street fair all up and down pkinsville with concerts people getting together and you see how many people have come to hopkinsville and franklin and the whole area and theyre coming from everywhere, from michigan, from australia. We have people from i think hey said 28 countries. I hope they can handle this and we can have Something Like this in the future for the economy. Host talk about what you plan to do today and how you will observe the eclipse . Caller i live east of that in a town called tomple conditionsville and my farm is on the Tennessee State line and you can look and see the state of tennessee from my farm. I have a big hill. We have a spot on the hill and my family and i are going to spend today on that farm watching the eclipse, staying out of everybodys way in hopkinsville and franklin because i know they have a lot of v. I. P. s from all over america that are flying in, so well just have a little private family time and watch the eclipse on our farm and enjoy it. Host representative james comer who serves hopkinsville, one city that will be a key interest as people head to it to observe the eclipse, a republican from kentucky, serves the First District. District. Representative comber, thanks for making time for us this morning. Caller thank you and thank you for covering the eclipse. Host back to your calls on this event today, kim in casper, wyoming, thanks for holding on the phone. Go ahead, youre on. Caller thank you so much for aking my call. Our city has been planning for this event for two years. We have a huge festival and have people coming in from all over the United States. The Colorado State patrol out of denver is a little worried about the interstate because of all the people coming up here to view. I just want to say that i hope everybody has a great time. We have friends that have come out from new york city. They brought their 12yearold son just to see this event. And weve had a wonderful time this week. Everybody has been great. I just hope everybody has safe travels and a wonderful time and thank you so much for taking my call. Host before you leave with all the people coming in and your city planning for it, talk a little bit about the do you feel that its in control, two do you feel everything is running smoothly, how would you gauge that . Caller day. We really have not had any roblems that ive heard of with the influx of the crowd. We live south of casper about five miles at an elevation of 8,000 feet. We have large camping areas up here, county parks, as the representative just said, a lot of camping sites have been rented out for the weekend. Its gone very smoothly. Were a fairly small town so we have a smaller Law Enforcement. But Law Enforcement from other counties, sheriff departments have come in and are helping to patrol the area. We have a Volunteer Fire Department up here on the mountain that is up here watching to make sure we dont have any fire problems. Weve had two major fire events in the last 11 years, one in 2006 and one in 2012 where almost half our mountain was burned off. And they are doing a great job patroling and watching, making sure everybody is safe. Really its gone very well. Host lets hear from bond in south windsor, connecticut. Good morning. Caller good morning. Thanks for taking my call. A lot of the smart phones have a camera you can invert so you can actually stand with your back to the eclipse as you watch it on your phone. You could be taking a picture of both yourself with the eclipse. Host you plan to do that . Caller i did get the safety glasses for this event but also was thinking my gosh, i can just revert the camera on this phone. I have an iphone. I dont know if a lot of these phones have the capability. But you can just take a selfie of yourself. Hats what i plan to do. Host you talk about the glasses. I know one of the stories leading up to this event is the availability as it got closer to today and the costs involved. Did you have issues getting those for you and the people youll be watching with . Caller a number of the libraries around here have special event and very with a connected Science Center thats going to have free glasses for the first 500 people who come through today. There are several libraries doing that, too, during the afternoon. I had to go online to amazon to order some glasses and did that because i have family up from the carolinas who went back last night to try and catch this event so im going to make sure they had the best protection possible. Host so as far what are your interests in the event . What interests you most about today and the eclipse . Caller i think this will probably be the personal first and last time im able to catch it. And of course connecticut were not going to get the full effect but i do have family out in rexburg, idaho as well as down in the carolinas and wanted to make sure they had the protection to view this safely and ill probably be while im on nasa at work today. Because i plan to take a small mini break around during the afternoon to catch a little bit of this. But its another working day for me. Host is your company ok with that . Caller i think you have to be ok with well, im going to go along with, you know, how the flow is in terms of people coming in and out of the store. But otherwise thats my plan. Host gotcha. Thats bond from connecticut. If you go to the nasa website, a special website theyve devoted to todays event and can you go to that and we linked it to our cspan website as well if you want to see whats on there including some animations youve probably been seeing throughout the program for what to expect for today. Later on in the morning as the eclipse starts in oregon and makes its way across the United States, about an hour and a half trip from start to finish before it heads on. And so again, more information to you available at the nasa website and you can see there for yourself. Joe anna by the way, were at goddard visitor Space Flight Center in green belt, maryland, the Visitor Center and theyve kindly hosted us today. Today weve devoted our program talking about matters of the eclipse. Heres joanna from florida. Hi there. Caller hi. Thank for you taking my call. I was curious about the shadow bands. Ive seen two eclipse, one off e coast of africa aboard the kanabera and armstrong was aboard and the one im thinking of occurred in mexico, on land, of course. And as it reached totality, these shadow band raced across the earth towards you. And i havent heard anybody mention them at all. And i thought that they were something natural that occurred during totality and i wondered if anyone could speak to that for me. It was very distinctive and i never forgot it. It is incredible event, a lifechanging event i heard mentioned. Host joanna, you spent a lot of time chasing these eclipse. What pushes you to do that . Caller well, my then husband, tommy daas, studied the diamond ring effect and got all sorts of lenses for his telescope in order to do that. So we were very aware when an eclipse, totality would take place and made sure we were in the right spot so tommy could do his research. D i was luckily able to, you know, enhance the experience for myself because of his interest in it. It was quite incredible at because hawka at mexico because the russians were there and everybody was camped out. I was amazed at the big nasa production. Everybody was there to study various aspects of it. And i saw all of that. So i was very aware of the fact that during totality they would be able to study things that were very necessary and very important for them. So im thrilled about it coming across the United States. And im very interested in seeing how its going to be captured on tv since im in Fort Lauderdale and im sure that it will be sensational. And i am very glad i was in a position host so you plan to i wanted to ask if you will view it again for yourself today. What are your plans specifically, what are you going to do . Caller well, im going to go outside in Fort Lauderdale with my glasses and im going to see as much as i can, but i really plan to Pay Attention to all of the Network Coverage and see how it was captured and what they are talking about, various scientific projects that were associated with it. So im very interested in seeing im sure well get wonderful footage of it and im very interested. Im sure, every year that we study these things the experiments advance and there are questions that advance and so im interested in seeing, you know, what questions are being answered by this viewing. So thank you for taking my call. Host thats joanna in florida talking about not only where shes been across the world to observe todays event and what shes planning on doing today. You can give us those stories as well. If you want to call us and let us know your plans and how you plan to watch and who you plan to watch with, how long youve planned for this and if youre traveling or maybe at your destination, maybe this is a Family Vacation for you, i dont know. Give us a call on the lines, 2027488000 for the eastern and central time zones and for the mountain and pacific time zone 2027488001. Lets hear from tracy in montana. Caller hi, pedro, im a first time caller. Host thanks for calling. Caller it takes a little while to hear you. Im really excited to see this, i dont know what the visibility will be. Im under mandatory avac evacuation orders, im on the edge of a 30,000 acre fire. Friday night i watched 9,000 acres on fire. I had a front row seat. Because i didnt leave and neither did my neighbors. And so tonight i dont know what its going to look like. We have so much smoke here but then it blows away. Im really excited to see it. Host so youll stay put even though thats going on, youre going to try to see it even through all that smoke . Caller yeah. I cant leave. If i leave they wont let me back and i had to stay here to protect my home. Host richmond, virginia. Linda up next. Hi. Caller good morning, good morning, good morning. I just want to say joanna was a very lucky woman, previous call, she got to see so much, what she did. But ive been watching the tv since mid last week and trying to get every channel i can. My dilemma is i dont know which channels to watch between cspan, the science channel, the Discovery Channel and all the network channels. And im a 71yearold retired nurse and so im here in the suburbs and were only supposed to get about 88 . But last week i went to lowes and i got the map and i got the booklet and i got the glasses. So im all ready to roll. And i have been up all night watching every program i could. But the thing that interests me so much are all the experiments going on. Its just so incredible when theyre talking about these different experiments. To see what the results are going to be. And the thing that i wanted to , i did say quite a few prayers this morning for the safety of the people and whatever happens to our earth. So let god be with us. Who knows what. This is such a host linda, youre spending a lot of time, you know, looking at this, studying it and getting close to it. Whats your fascination . Caller i believe all the Scientific Data that will be oming out of this. And sending up the bacteria and all the fantastic satellites and etc. , i just and the flares. Its just so incredible. Like i said, i dont know which channels to watch. I had to put new batteries in my remote control. They were about gone. So hopefully i can kind of go back and forth. But i hope cspan does good and i said the science channel, discovery are doing some wonderful things, too. So everybody has do so much going on. Lets just hope for the best and im hoping for all the fety of the people and the e. M. S. And all the policemen that are guarding the highways and im hoping that everybody keeps safe on the bicycles and parking, etc. I live in the suburbs so i am really all im going to do is go on my deck with my two geriatric dogs and im going to keep them in the house. Host thats linda from richmond, virginia, talking about how she plans to spend the day not only watching the eclipse but also as she plans to monitor coverage of it. We go to our cspan website for our coverage plans as well, starting at noon and lasting for several hours later on in the afternoon, youll have a chance to not only see that but also get the calls and get to talk to us about your experience after youve watched todays event. So you can see that starting at noon on cspan. Go to our website at cspan. Org for more information on our coverage of todays eclipse. Tommy in dallas, georgia. Hi there. Tommy hey, good morning. My fascination began with this this past may, a member of the Radio Society in dallas, georgia, and we had a gentleman in mike duller, a physicist and eclipse chaser do a presentation at our amateur radio club and at that time, i immediately booked my reservations here in clayton, georgia, because i wanted to be under the full eclipse of it. And so we came here yesterday and took one day off so we could come here and be a part of it. And were having or theyre having a eclipse party at the raven Gap High School and nasa is going to be there and probably some media and whoever else. Its a big party from 9 00 to 4 00. So we got tickets for that early, thankfully, and so were looking forward to it and my scination with it has been since im an amateur Radio Operator is the radio propagation under this gray line that will be coming across america. Theres so many amateur radio clubs and they are doing parties on this and they have so many people using amateur radio through the Solar Eclipse or ee if it gets better worse or whatever testing theyll be doing. Host i was going to say, you could get some serious interference if youre a ham operator during this eclipse. Caller i imagine so. I guess the whole thing is going to be an experiment. And ill be at a party and dont think i can bring my radio equipment there. It will be interesting to find out after its all done whatever information is gathered from all this. Host if i can ask you before you go, you said you traveled and you said you planned for this. If i may ask, how much are you spending to cover this, with a were the hotel rooms like, give us a sense if you dont mind . Caller the hotel rooms we booked was back in march, or february. We booked early so it was a very normal flight. I forgot what it even was. They took it out of my debit card months ago. It was for price gouging whatsoever. Host thats tommy in georgia. Ets go to today lila go to delilah in mississippi. Caller hey. Host hi. Kip i just wanted to say that here in mississippi, a lot of people are really, really scared, like they dont know what to do about it. They think people will be crazy and just look at it, so they are locking down our schools and stuff for that period where the Solar Eclipse is going to happen. Host will you elaborate, please, on what theyre scared of . Caller theyre scared people are going to burn off their eyes and focused on the eclipse misconceptions instead of its just the sun we look at every day. Host and so even with that going on for yourself, what do ou plan to do today . Caller it was a very big struggle finding glasses but we did find some at home depot and today im staying home and watching it at my home on my porch. Host youre not one of those people who are scared, then . Caller no, sir. Host chad is next from virginia, from keller, virginia. Chad, where is keller in relation to the major cities in virginia . Caller im out here on the Eastern Shore of virginia, so im probably about an hour north of virginia beach. D were expecting about between two and three and about 85 coverage. I have my glasses and i have my camera ready. So i can remember the one in 1984 very well. I was probably like in second, third great and i can remember the cafeteria pulling the shade down and the buses covered up. Yeah, im looking forward to it. Im ready, anxious. Its something not a lot of people sees in their lifetime. Host will you be viewing it yourself or do you have members of family joining us . Caller im pretty much by myself. Im pretty sure ill be downloading pictures and video and that kind of stuff. More for my own curiosity. Host you had said you got curious about these things as a child. What are you most curious about . Caller i guess to see it for myself, im curious. Its been 30 years ago but i guess say hey, i was there in 017 and seen it. Host the goddard Space Flight Center is where were located for this edition of washington journal. They kindly opened the Visitor Center up for us to talk about the Solar Eclipse which takes place today. You heard from a nasa space scientist in the beginning of the program and in a couple minutes well talk with goddards chief scientist about not only the Science Behind it but what he plans to experience from it, what he hopes to learn from it and also take your questions about todays Solar Eclipse. That will come up in just a few minutes. Well take your calls throughout the day, or at least this show about it at noon, cspans coverage and a simulcast of what theyre doing and later on in the day youll get a chance to call after youve watched it. Tell us about your experience, what you learned, all those things. Stay close to cspan. Org for all that information. Sharon in florida. Go ahead. Caller sir, thank you. I love your program on a daily basis and absolutely love the special youre doing today. I just wanted to call with a warning. I was watching another news and el right before this they were making an announcement on the local channel some of the glasses from amazon are not good. News channel said that amazon was trying to get the word out. Im on their site and i cant find any warnings yet but is it possible that somebody could check this out so that people who are using the amazon glasses are sure they have some good ones . Host so these are probably representative of the glasses you may have already or are trying to get. These are shipped to us from nasa. But again, there are certain kind of requirements to make sure that these are proper in the sense that you can look at the eclipse today and not damage your eyes. When our chief scientist comes onboard in a few minutes well ask him about that, what to look for in glasses, in particular if you have ones at home youre curious about, well ask him about that in a few minutes. Sharon, if youre still there, aside from all that, what are your plans for today . Caller i plan to go out with my little cereal box pinhole viewer and go look at the eclipse. Host you made one from aer isal box, then . Caller my husband did. Im actually pretty excited to be a kid again. Host youre not the only one. So yeah, again, the glasses are one way of viewing it, the pinhole camera is another way. Maybe if you made a pinhole camera, tell us about your experience, too, if youre using a cereal box, a box of soda, whatever, give us a picture of what your plans are today. Lets go to joel. Salt lake city, utah. Joel, hi there. Youre on. Caller hey, goodcaller longtit time caller. Host tell us about your plans for today. It is amazing the amount of interest going into this, with the Media Coverage and support from local communities, municipalities, public services. It is pretty fascinating. I have been getting ready for about three weeks, for this. I will have to watch it on the internet or some of the news media, later. Are you surprised by the amount of coverage it is getting . Am. Er i via joel will be launching the internet. Is it because you will be at work . Caller actually, i would just be tying shoelaces while everyone is looking up i will just be tying shoelaces while everyone is looking up. Host one of the many people calling in and talking about your experience in watching the total Solar Eclipse. In the next hour, we will have an expert to answer your questions and explain the Science Behind it. He is james garvin with the nasa goddard Space Flight Center. He is the chief scientist. Millions will be traveling to keep places across the United States, especially on this path of total Solar Eclipse. Nasa had a briefing that featured the federal Highway Administration and one thing was about how they are preparing for today. The audience may not put why is thisies with friendly neighborhood for federal Highway Administration person talking, im yet i am representing the people that are working to make sure you get there safe. That is what we are after. We want the drivers and their families to be prepared and be safe while they are out there enjoying this event because we know that 14 states are going to be in the direct path of the total eclipse. Across the country, that is a lot of land to cover and it represents about 200 Million People that are within one days drive of getting within the direct path, so that is a lot of people with potential to be out on the roads and we love we want them to get out there and enjoy this experience, but we need to do it safely. There may be more people on the expected ormally on the roads that normally expected. It may be pedestrians and bicyclists enjoying the summertime weather. Graphic,l up the first we show a map of the interstates that are in the path of the total eclipse. The map is too small to be able to put on all the other highway routes and local county roads and city streets that are in the path. There are approximately 20 interstates that are in the direct path and on average, on an average day, those interstate serve about 2 million drivers and that is just the interstates, not the highways and the city city streets. We dont know exactly how many are going to be out there driving to get into good position, but we know there will likely be several million. 14 states, their state departments of