Transcripts For CSPAN3 NASA Holds Briefings On August 21 Solar Eclipse 20170622

The Iconic Museum here in the Nations Capital. Happy summer solstice. First day of summer and what a summer its going to be. Today we have two briefings to talk about an event 99 years in the making. August 21 total Solar Eclipse across america. Now in these briefings we will talk about and you hear about safety in viewing the eclipse, travel, and of course, the science. The first briefing, through the eyes of nasa. You will hear the unprecedented assets from americas space program. Spacecraft, airplanes, balloons and little bit of everything in between. Also, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have their own unique assets. You will hear about those. Coming back down to earth, directly affecting of public obviously, the parks. There will be extraordinary record numbers of crowds at National Parks. You will hear about them. To be better prepareed. And of course to get to those parks and the festivals and museums and whole plethora of activities across the country, the Transportation Department will talk about highway answers byways so you can be better prepared. We will have a brief intermission. Dont change that dial. During intermission we will have safety videos and a lot of other Important Information for you to be better prepared and thinking even more about the october sorry, august 21st event. Then our second briefing will be about the science. Scientists have been preparing for this extraordinary event for years. You will hear about what they are are doing, activities, and why you, the public, should care because we are probably going to see a lot of new folks going into the scientific field after the august event. And of course, during both briefings, question and answer start heerg at the museum. Then on the phone lines and social media. You will hear several news sites, web sites, for nasa, everything about the eclipse through a through z and you may want to commit these to memory pepsi clips2017. Nasa. Gov. There will be lots of interactive information there. Then nasagov eclipselive. There will be bells and whistles, images through the eyes of nasa. And also spanish content. Make sure that you tune in for that and much, much more. Social media, mahashtag eclipse 2017. Follow us on that hashtag. And also on youtube, facebook and twitter. All of those types of social media plat forms. Before i introduce you to our panel, Something Special has already happened. United states postal service. Dedicated, total eclipse of the sun. First of its kind stamp is based on the photograph taken by retired nasa astro physicist. Shown from libya in 2006. The really cool thing about this, it trance forms into the moon from the heat aftof a fing. Once it cools, the moon returns. It shows from coast to coast. We have postal representatives here in the front row for the media and social media to ask questions. We dont have time here. They certainly will be available afterwards. These stamps are great collectibles. Can you buy them here at the museum and at the post office near you and online at uss. Com shop. Ladies and gentlemen, they have done an incredible job as they always do but they have outkun themselves. Can we give them a round of applause for the stamps . [ applause ] associate administrator, agencys headquarters in washington. Vanessa griffen within director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrations office of satellite and product operation. The gentleman that in the awesomely cool suit, uniform there, brian culstrom from National Science National Park service in washington. Aulstrom National Science National Park service in washington. Rulstrom National Science National Park service in washington. Lstrom fr National Science National Park service in washington. From the u. S. Department of transportation in washington, thomas, through the ice oeyes o nasa, over foup. Thank you so much, dwane. Sometimes we forget that we are sit awning a planet that is turning on its axis with a celestial body right next to it that was ripped out of the planet really late in its formation, our moon. And everything in gasses and fields of our star, our sun. The most important star for us because it is life. It supports everything we do but also the Rosetta Stone of allstars. If you learn about stars we first learn here at the sun. So the the eclipse is important. This comes into align nmt a cosmic moment we are all being part of. These cosmic moments when nature speaks us to in an emotional way sometimes come loud. Like thunderstorms. Storms like hurricanes, earthquakes, but this one will be silent. Day will turn tonight and back again. And the world around us, animals. React to it. This emotion is important. You should talk to anybody who has seen such eclipse. And you know, for me, the story that i remember as my grandma who told me that story of her experience. She talked about birds, about animals around. And i really hope that all of us, all of you are watching this will in fact enjoy this eclipse. It is important for that reason. But it is also about science. Eclipse has been important in discovering things in our lives. An eclipse in 1868 that for the first time provided images of an emission we had never seen. Radiation we didnt understand. And just because they dpt know what it was, it was helium, it is in our balloons that rise to the sky, on our birthdays or whatever. And so helium was discovered there in a 1919 observation of the eclipse provide the first proof of general that life actually bends in the gravitational sun and provide the first test of pivotal theory. Science is what it is all about here for us at nasa and its first of all heelo physics. Science of the sun andern viernment and how these plasma and gasses interact with planets and also astro physics. Planetary scientists such as the moon and planets elsewhere and earth science. All of which will be involved in this important spectacle. So this eclipse will be really important for us because it will be providing unprecedented Vantage Points. Nasa, in space, and on the ground and please start the movie. So first of all, we will have 11 spacecraft that are flying, two of them with our Sister Agency noaa and the spacecraft as hope is here initially are looking at the sun. Looking at what we call the corona. Atmosphere of the sun. Guess why it is called the corona . Because it is like a crown around the moon. And these observations will look at all colors from xray all wait to visible and beyond. Theres one spacecraft at the moon that is looking both at the moon but also along the shadow at the earth. And looking that unique Vantage Point and then of course, we have a whole series of spacecraft in orbit around earth looking at both the incoming radiation and radiation thats coming back from earth. Really providing us a unique experiment of how solar radiation interacts with the earths atmosphere. Also making observations in air with these aircraft. I dont want to forget the astronauts who will look out window. Because we have pro fegfessiona astronomers and citizen astronomers and people that look at the eclipse and provide unique science that will come together and help us understand new things about this sun, new things about the earth and how they interact in this unique eclipse. Unique opportunity. Before we close out i want to remind you that it is not good to look at the sun. Not good to look at the sun when the sun is just in the sky. But also not good if only half or three quarters of the sun is covered. The sun is way too bright for your eyes. So be safe. Do enjoy it. But be safe. Only time it is tock look at the sun is when it is entirely covered. For two minutes or so when it is out there. So just tell you a story that really moved me. A story that was actually made possible by an individual in the audience here, from the college of charleston, sitting in the audience, and its a map that is making the eclipse accessible and to those of our friends and colleagues who are visually impair ordered blind. And so what this provides is a map that these, individuals can feel and get the geometry both of these shadow across the country but also off the corona and the entire lineup of the sun and the moon. In this case, our individual, our friends don see the light of the sun can really be part of that enormous experience of course. That will also hear that we will feel but also touch is here. So i will turn it over to you and tell us about noaa. Thank you. First, your comment about the emotion of an eclipse is really dear to me as well. I think i saw my first and only eclipse in 79 as undergraduate student. That experience helped me formulate in my own mind the idea i wanted to have a career in science. Thats the kind of thing that if something as simple as total solars cli Solar Eclipse can inspire around our country. This is a 99year event. Its been 99 years since total Solar Eclipse crossed the entire u. S. From the west coast to east coast. And noaa is very excited to be able to help you experience that with providing views from our satellites of the eclipse as it is happening. There are two things you will see in the eclipse. One, are you in the ban where the total Solar Eclipse will be occurring or the remainder of the United States with partial viewing of an eclipse. Of course other factor is whether there will be clear weather for you to experience the view. So we will talk about that. You may not be aware but noaa owns and operates all of the nations weather satellites. Series of very high resolution, very capable satellites that allow us to view the eclipse from different perspectives and will be doing that on august 21. Can i have my first graphic, please . This is a graphic that shows all of noaaes a satellites and orbits around the earth that they are in currently. We have two particular ones i want to talk about. One is our discover satellite which is outside the earths orbit. Actually outside the lunar orbit as well. So it has a camera on board, nasa camera, that looks back at earth. With that image we will be able to capture images of the moon moving across the continent as the eclipse occurs. We also have instruments on board that look at sun and monitor the solar output. The space weather as we call it. And basically being our sentinel, constantly looking at the sun, making us aware of what is coming at us from the solar environment. And of course we will learn more about that. You will hear more about that in the science discussion later. Our other satellite, new est generation go satellite, you may have heard your local meteorologists raving about this new satellite we have. This provides us with a capability, probably the most advanced capability for monitoring weather on earth. It is currently in test pg. Launched in november. It is going through a series of tests. We wont move it into operations until next november. But in the meantime we will use this capability to monitor the eclipse as it occurs. For instance we are developing our strategy now but hope to have 30second images from earth from the go 16 satellite. The satellite is also armed with a new instrument. A highpowered camera that looks at the sun. This camera will look at the sun during the eclipse and we do expect to see the moons image in the image and this camera looks at sun constantly to monitor the suns activities and whats happening as we go. We have a number of other satellites. Polar orbiting satellites, noaa 15, noaa 18 and noaa 19. As well as partner satellites from europe. Because these are polar orbiting satellites, many will be orbiting the earth and crossing over the United States during the eclipse period and we will get images again of the lunar shadow in those images. Itll be fascinating. We cant wait to see the data. And bring up the next graphic, please, the next most important thing is what will the weather be. This is from National Center for environmental information it shows as eclipse moves west to east across the United States, there is increasing likelihood of cloudiness in the areas of where you will be able to view the eclipse. This is due it many factors. For instance if you look at the western coast of oregon and southeastern states you see areas again that will have a higher likelihood of cloudiness because of the humidity they have on average. This is historical data. An forecast. Just the historical average and percentage of cloud cover that you can experience or expect based on history on august 21 in afternoon. There are many other factors also that involve your ability to see the eclipse. One is your geography, terrain. Are there mountains. Other things that can limit exposure time, view time, and fog and other estlaents can happen. This is late summer. Late august, mid afternoon. We know what that means. That means the chance of showers and thunderstorms. And so again, as you look at this graphic you see the the un darker again because of the presence over time on that day of thunderstorms and showers in the afternoon. So we certainly hope you have clear skies, but we wanted to let you be aware of what you could expect if youre planning to travel and you want to know where to go. Nasa is very excited about the eclipse. Very excited about helping you get information that you want. We have a series of websites that weve put together to show noaas data. And our nci data sites and other things. We hope you have clear skies, we hope the weather is great, we hope you have great viewing, were excited about it. Many of you will be traveling to find locations where you can see the event. Most of you will be in the National Parks thrchlts is a significant event for the National Parks service and we hope that many of you will come and enjoy it in your National Parks. Its a special day for everyone, as couple of the experiences have been shared, this is your opportunity to create your experience related to the eclipse that you can hopefully one day share it with your family or your grandkids. So where can you see anytime it National Parks . It just so happens that 20 of the National Parks are exactly in the area of totality and nine of the national trails by by sekt the path as west. The first is john day fossil beds and it will wrap up at ft. Sumter in South Carolina. All of the parks in the lower 48, because they are in a lot of other places as well, will experience the eclipse at some level. Check with the local parks website to determine exactly what thats going to be. Whats happening in the National Parks related to the eclipse. A lot of specific activities are happening. You know, were trying to help people to learn and experience more about the parks as quickly as they can. And the community were working and partnering with a lot of communities, including nasa, harvard, the smithsonian and the Planetary Society. And the Planetary Society is helping us host an event in nebraska that is going to be having a threeday festival around the eclipse. Next graphic please. So to plan your visit for this once in a lifetime event, make sure to plan ahead. Make sure to plan to experience the eclipse in a National Park like you would any other visit to the National Park. Visit the website. Thats your best place to get started. Make sure you bring food, expect crowds. Be patient. This is a once in a lifetime event for everybody. And we want you all to have an amazing experience while youre there. What can people take part in . Well you can stay in the parks next slide please after the eclipse to see spectacular night skies. You can join other citizen scientists and observe the behave your of plants and animals during that Solar Eclipse. And like thomas mentioned earlier, we want to make sure youre doing it as safely as possible both during the event and when you get there. We know youre going to be traveling on a lot of roads and federal highways and to talk to us specifically about that is martin. Thanks, brian. The audience may not normallyly the sun with eclipses with why is this federal highway person talking. Yet im here representing the people working to make sure that you get there safe to fully enjoy it. Thats what were after. We want the drivers and their families to be prepared and to be safe while theyre out there enjoying this event. Because of the scientists, we know that 14 states are going to be in the direct path of the total eclipse. Now, across the country, that is a lot of land to cover. And what we understand is it represents about 200 Million People that are within one days drive of getting to within a direct path. So that is a lot of people with potential to be out on the roads. And we want them to get out there, enjoy this experience, but we need them to do it safely. There may be more people on the roads than are normally expected out there on the roads. There may be more pedestrians who are out getting good spots to view it, bicyclesists enjoying the weather. The first graphic shows the map of the interstates in the path of the total eclipse. These are just interstates. The map is too small to put on the highway routes and the local county roads and the city streets that are in the path as well. Theres approximately 20 interstates that are in the direct path. An on average, on an average day, those interstates serve about 2 million drivers. Thats a lot. And that is just again, the interstates. Not the highways and the city streets and the others. We dont know exactly how many might be out there driving around to get in good position for this. But we know that there will likely be several million. The good thing is 14 states, well thash state department of transportations are already planning. Theyre already coordinating with local governments, with law enforcement, with emergency responders. So they are working to help make sure that the governments and the roads are as prepared for the people to handle that as possible. In fact we have stephen here from the National Operation center of excellence. Hes here to help with any questions that you may have regarding to states and preparedness. The center of excellence helps provide best practices for states and locals to make sure theyre ready for things like that. Federal Highway Administration, fhwa, we encourage travels, want them to be kpated about that but be prepared. Its not the time to show up on the spur of the moment drive for a few minutes with your head out of the window looking up at the sky. Its not a time to pull over and be on the side of the road. If we could pull up our next graphic, its a web page that weve put together in federal highways that provides relevant information about the total eclipse. It gives you link to the 14 state d. O. T. S and the information theyre providing. It has link to the National Center of excellence for operations, link to the nasa sites. We try to make it as easy as possible for people looking for good information to be able to find it. Also, its not just the normal traveling public. Freight, companies that move our goods and products that we need and enjoy, they already have to be very safety conscious for cars that dart in front of the trucks or finding limited Parking Spaces for tractortrailers or how they make sure they meet their hours of service. Well they need to be preparing as well that favorite spots they may have for knowing where to find the secret parking space along the way. Others may know about that as well. So whether its the public or the truckers, plan ahead. One thing to think about is this is occurring in august. Vacation time. So rush hour traffic may be a little slower than normal in these areas where theres places that have more people coming to enjoy this. August is also probably if i asked the audience they would say construction season you know for helping to take care of the roads. And we need to do that while keeping live traffic going. A lot of the state d. O. T. S are already preparing to have their work zones not be active during the eclipse to make it as safe as possible. But you can still see some traffic devices like barrels or changeable Message Boards that will helped a vice the public about what to expect for any potential construction hazards. The work zones are tough enough to keep everyone alert and engaged for it. So you may be coming upon speed limit reductions, lanes that are closed, lanes that are narrowed and moved. Things that you see normally, were trying to mitigate that as much as possible. If we pull up the last graphic here always be alert and conscientious drivers. Dont let the eclipse in judgment. The eclipse is certainly a wonderful thing thats going to capture our attention. If you get one message out of this, prepare in advance. Dont do it on the spur of the moment. We lose way too many lives on the highways already and we want to make sure that this runs perfectly and people enjoy this event. A few tips, you can get them on our website. But you heard me earlier, dont stop along the interstate. You know, dont drive with your head poking out of the window. Dont just pull over. Youve got pedestrians and others out there. Be careful. If everyone is driving staring up at the sky and everyone on the side of the road is staring up at the sky, then who is looking out for each other. You know, were looking at a wonderful event but we need to take care of each other along the way. Turn your head lights on. And as i said, watch out for pedestrians. Finally, as always, buckle up, put the cell phone in the glove box. You dont need to be talking on the phone. Ive got seven years without having a phone call while driving and the first two weeks was maybe a little itchy but after that i havent hissed that at all. So my advice, take back peace of mind that you want, take back full control of your mind and attention from distractions. Make this a great event. Be safe and on behalf of federal Highway Administration, thank you very much. Thank you. And if youre just joining us, were coming to you live from the knew sooem here in the Nations Capital and this is our first of two briefings to talk about the total eclipse across america on august 21. Were going to transition and take questions and answers. We have a number of folks on the phone, social media and of course media here. Again, we have a second briefing coming up to get more deep dive and more specific on the science. This is about preparation and the assets to bring you a wealth of images and data both before, during and after the august eclipse. So what wed like to do is i see a hand. If you can wait for the mike. And give your name and i fail ya affiliation. Seth, associated press. You said most states are going to be putting work zones aside during the eclipse. What states have not responded yet or are not going to be doing that . And what time period are you talking . There are a lot of eclipse chasers its not the time of the eclipse. Its the several hours before hand. So that day, i think its a sunday, right . Are you looking at the entire day of work free zones for these people . What are the recommendations of the Highway Administration and what states are not doing it . Great question. Right at this point we havent gathered all of the information to know which states, because theyre still working on their plans. And youre right, theyre looking at not just covering the two minutes plus of the eclipse but to help make sure that the travelers that are going there on special events, whether its over the weekend i do need to clarify, theyre not getting rid of their work zones. You know, its hard to do when youve got different pieces of the infrastructure under work. What theyre not going to do is have it active. Were still working at getting accounting to understand what their needs are and which ones are doing that. Thats why right now at this point be tied into the websites for those state d. O. T. S and theyre not wanting to get in the way. They want to keep you safe and moving. So thats the information that we have at this point. Okay. We have other hands and well provide answers. And also op social media eclipse2017. And i see a hand here. Wait for a mike and name and affiliati affiliation, please. Hi, space. Com. Ive heard rumors this is going to be the most watched eclipse in history. Im wondering if you agree with that and why or why not. Okay. Those assertions are always very hard to probecause we dont have really good numbers on any one of them. I think its one of the top candidates if not the most watched eclipse. If you take all of the Vantage Points, all of the assets together and all of the channels were going to put out, its going to be hard to beat frankly. These kinds of stories go in the billions right away. Just the nasa network itself. And then all of the other networks that are coming. I think it would be heard to beat. My personal feeling is it will be the most watched but i cant prove that scientifically. Were going to the phone lines but lets take one more question do we have here in the audience . If not we will go to the phone lines. Alan boyle. We have alan on the phone . Okay. Lets see if we can do a little turn here. Lets go social media. Were starting to hear a lot of chatter there. Im going to my colleague at the social media desk, jason townsend. Whats the crowd talking about across the country. Thanks. Theres a lot of excitement out there but some folks want to know a couple of things. First off, where can we buy eclipse glasses . The eclipse 2017 nasa. Gov has a number of pieces of contact information. Theres also through the s. T. E. M. Act vase classes, some have been distributed through libraries, a series of organizations. But if you cannot find the answer around your neighborhood, do contact us over the website and well help you find that. Let me also ask, its my understanding that over 5,000 libraries across the country have the glasses. Across the country, your libraries, check those out and go to the websites. Check out your libraries. 5,000 across the country. One more, jason. Next question comes from Facebook User michael who asks, when the eclipse happens, does the sun get cold . So at the eclipse is truly an event that is all about the Vantage Points. The sun if i were in space and with the spacecraft looking at the sun outside of the earth, theres absolutely no indication of the eclipse. Basically what happens is of course the sun itself is the sun. Whats happening though, if im on the ground and i feel the temperature of the sun on my skin, because of the fact that the sun disappears and its getting dark, yes, it will feel like its cold. Its entirely perception because of the shadow cone of the moon being right on top of her. So the sun will not know about the eclipse but you will. Jason were going to the phones and i come back to you. Lets go back to our phone lines. I believe we have greg. Caller good afternoon. Thank you so much for this great event. I basically have two quick questions. For department of transportation, where do you expect the largest congregation of people to be just so our listeners can be aware of that . And secondly for nasa, if it is cloudy, based upon noaas predictions, where can people tune in to see the live coverage of the event . And thank you very much. Well, the first part of that good question, you know, were taking that in. We know that nashville is likely the largest metropolitan area thats in the direct path. So how much they have to travel, you know, within nashville or those trying to go to nashville. Theres also, though, some places that want to be out of the, outs of the city lights and into the National Parks and others where they can get a splendid view there. So looking at stephen from the center of excellence, do you have any additional information, stephen . No. I mean, i think thats thanks. Thats about the same information that we have. Im not sure if this is on. But yeah, i mean, pretty much along the path of totality is going to see a lot of people. The transportation agencies that weve been working with, theyre working with local businesses and hotels and have found that a lot of places along the entire path, hotels have been booked out for two years in advance, sold out for years in advance. So i think pretty much anywhere you go theres going to be a good bet youre going to be facing some pretty good significant crowds. I want to answer the second question. Ill answer the first half and then kick it over to duane here. First of all, with nasa, with all of these Vantage Points we will provide a nonstop view of the Solar Eclipse from the west to the east through a variety of assets. We actually have ill tell you. Im going to be in an airplane right off the coast of oregon and to really start this off and i after the shadow is hitting the coast, we have balloons, aircraft and groundbased and space assets that will make this available nonstop. Talk about nasa tv. Well, again, if we can put up the websites, commit this to memory ladies and gentlemen across the country. Nasa. Gov e sliclipse nasa. Gov eclipselive. That will be where the eclipse broadcast will be. Nasa. Gov eclipselive. And again if you want to go through eclipse, a through z, everything you need to know about it. But on august 2 is, nasa. Gov eclipselive. Live content. If you want to see it through the eye of nasa, eclipse live is the way to go. Next on the phone. Alan. Caller yes, hi. Sorry about that mute button. I wanted to ask whether you really are prepared for the crowds. I can imagine people actually camping out on the side of the interstate or jamming up the roads, not only interstates but also local roads. Is the department of transportation getting out the word and are there any particular things being done to anticipate what might be a big traffic jam . You know, im trying not to imagine people out along the interstates as well. So hopefully that didnt come to fruition. Thats why one reason were happy to be here with the other Panel Members to get the message out. The state d. O. T. S are preparing campaigns beyond just posting on the website. Theyre preparing for the areas that they can take the greatest priority for, where they think people may be going. Were trying to get the message out to everyone. Its important, as i said, that yus dont just go on the spur of the moment, say hey, lets drive up and take a look at this thing, pull over on the interstate. Right now there is controlled access to the interstates and the state d. O. T. S are responsible for that and theyre working on plans to help make sure people are safe. Were going to go back to social. But again, im going to sound like a broken record, nasa. Gov eclipselive, through the eyes of nasa, but also the web content there. A lot of interactive activities. Go there. Well have a video that will show all of the bells and whistles there. Commit to memory if you can nasa. Gov eclipselive. Next question comes from twitter user joseph who asks what concern or precautions should we take with small children, maybe 3 and under, when viewing the eclipse . Well, so, my kids are no longer small, but i remember kind of looking at things like that. What i would be absolutely sure about, as the leader, make sure the type of eye protection that is there, you know, is clearly on top of the eyes of the children and really actually practice ahead of it. The kids really get used to it. So they understand thats how it feelings. Yeah its supposed to be dark. You can practice with the sun out. The other thing also is that if youre out there for quite a while, lets say in the west, you know, the sun is really burning down on you. So be sure that your skin is protected, especially the skin of smaller children that as you know is so sensitive. And also be sure that you bring enough water and make sure, you know, you stay, you know, you stay kind of healthy as youre out there and really take this in. So again, protect the eyes, really diligently practice it, protect your skin and stay hydrated. And i want to remind our viewers that at 2 30 well have scientists that will be talking about many way to be safe, they work with young kids of all ages. Stay tuned. Watch out. Well have that question answered to compliment thomas. Dont his the scientists coming up. Youll be amazed at some of the things and how to protect and creative ways to look at the eclipse safely. Were going to take one more social and then go to the phone. This comes from twitter user ben who asks, how can watching the eclipse at different altitudes, especially in and on mountains, change the viewing experience . What do you think, park ranger . [ laughter ] youll be slightly closer. [ laughter ] from a physics standpoint, im not sure that the cone of the moon through the shadow that is going to be all that much difference with any elevation gain you might be able to achieve. That might be different in an airplane, perhaps. But in terms of what you could experience by going up or down a mountain within a park or other public lands, probably be pretty minimal. Is that a satisfactory answer from a scientific standpoint . As you know, i am totally faking it. I already told you that ive not experienced it myself. Growing up in the mountains though, i think the one thing i would say, okay, the gee yom triwill change. You will see standing up on that mountain, you will see the shadow cone hitting the valley, so what you see is a much broader perspective, the kind of impact that the transition has as opposed to being in a flat place, youll see down and up. Thats a unique thing for a guy who grew up on a mountain, thats where you want to be. Brian youve got the cool uniform on. Whatever answer you give is good. I believe we have the Washington Post. Tree ina bell. Trina . Caller all right. So im actually writing with the Washington Post and other publicatio publications. With this particular question i would like to chat really quick about crowd sizes. We have an awful lot of small towns across america that are all expecting 100,000 people or so. So its my understanding that crowd sizes have been estimated off of if numbers of eclipse chasers and tourists for similar eclipses in the past. Is it realistic for each small town thats one county over from the other small town iing 100,0 . From the federal Highway Administrations point of view, the state d. O. T. S are working with the communities, especially, you know, its easier when we see communities saying we want to have a festival, we want to make it a long weekend. Its easy fier for the state d. O. T. S to be planning with them. The big question is theres not an unlimited number of people working at the state d. O. T. They need to know and predict where they need to put their people best stationed. For information on federal Highway Administrations website, we do have information about how to put together planned special events. Things that we can see coming in advance and what are some good practices and checklists. One of my colleagues just retired from us. Shes an expert in planned special events. Shes here in the audience and helped put together the information. That would be one source that the communities for free can go to the federal Highway Administration website and look up information about plan special events. Use the information thats there to help find outer what things theyve thought about and what things they havent. Weve got about ten minutes. Im going to come back here to the newseum. Were going to have a brief intermission. Dont change that station. Lots of interesting and important, Vital Information on viewing the eclipse safely and other types of things. And then 2 30 the scientists are coming. You dont want to miss that. Many of the questions that were hearing that you want answered, save those for the 2 30 show. Any folks here in the studio audience were do we go back to social. Jason. All right, then. So user veronica on twitter is asking, can we see the eclipse in europe at all, even just a bit . In kpueurope . New york. No, europe. I dont believe this eclipse is going to go through europe. Have to watch tv. All right. Go ahead, one more and then we have a hand in the audience. Twitter user rachel is asking are we working with Public Transit to move people from viewer lo kcationslocations. We are in touch with transit, but they only go so far in their jurisdictions. Like in nashville, theres already good plans for transit. For long haul it would be getting the information out to the motor coaches to make sure theyre prepared. In terms of the National Parks with mass transit, as youre aware, most of our sites along the specific trajectory are fairly remote and there may be Service Providers doing that in terms of helping people to get there. But in terms of actual effort by the park service, were not providing anything specifically. Were going to come back and have the mike. But we also have some social media folks here in the audience. If you guys want to ask questions, well come to you next. Go ahead. Name and affiliation, please. With nasa social. There we go. Thank you. You got us. I have a question from a twitter follower michelle asking for the International Space station, what will they observe from the space station and what can they expect to see . Thats a very good question. Were still evaluating what that will be. Stay tuned. We want to get out early. Were two months out. Were going to have a better picture of the International Space station but more specifics probably two weeks before the eclipse. Stay tuned. Well get that out to you as soon as possible. Any social media here . We go a hand here. Lets go. Hold your hand up high. Please identify yourself. Hi, im jen hall well. One of my followers wants to know given the wave of aint science sentiment that were seeing across the u. S. , how is nasa focusing its outreach efforts to get people for excited about science. Is this eclipse something about that . Is that something you can comment on or do we have to keep it about the eclipse keep it about life. Thats good. The way i so working at one of the most exciting science organizations in the world at na nasa, you know, we feel that its absolutely critical to keep talking about science and the impact that science has. Science not only changes what we know but sometimes changes entirely how we think about life itself. And how i started today talking about really where were at in the world is one of those Vantage Points. Also, we keep repeating and i really want to show tangible examples to show how science protects and improves life. The kind of work you do in noaa that really predicts these storms. Its all truly a benefit of science investments over many many years that now save lives today. Absolutely. We have these cameras out there that in fact work. And do the kind of amazing you know, get the amazing data that we use every day, not just to figure out the way we dress but to get out of harm. For us, talking about the benefits of science that every one of us has is one of the ways we address the kind of worry that is being expressed. And again for the 2 30 with scientists, you hear some interesting perspective from them. Seth im going to come back to you and then wrap up. If there are any other hands after seth, ill go one more social to jason and then well wrap it. Seth at ap. Given the weather for an eclipse eclipse watchers are especially not just watching is it partly cloudy, you know, mostly sunny. Theyre looking for far more specifics and theyre looking two or three days in advance so they can chase an eclipse, chase the good weather. What kind of is noaa going to be doing anything special in terms of resources and eclipse forecasts, you know, changing the forecast thats more aimed at here is the sky coverage youre going to get and especially two days in advance when you need it more . Sure. I pointed out we have a number of websites that well be posting information about, including Weather Service sites talking about the weather during the eclipse. And i just want to remind everybody that you know, two months out we can say from historical record where the clouds plan to be. We clearly dont know yet on august 21st where the clouds will be. Definitely stay tuned to your local Weather Forecast and the Weather Service forecast. Theyll have tools and im sure plenty of information out a few days ahead so you can make decisions on where you might want to plan your visit if you want choice to look. I said october too. You must be a football fan like me. Will there be a special eclipse website at noaa for weather watchers . Im not quite sure what content theyre planning for the websites yet. Because i think its snil the works. But well get back with you and let you know. Finally you mentioned discover satellite. Yes. How special is it considering it is slated to be killed off by the administration. The discover satellite is not being turned off. Its used in operations daily to monitor the suns outputs and provide us the weather warnings. What youre talking about is the epic camera. But the discover satellite itself is in operations and will remain so. Jason, lets take us home with one more question and then well wrap it. Twitter user glad you know is asking what time will this eclipse begin. Do you have the time . We dont have it committed to memory. Its identify yourself, please. This is alex young from space flight center. On the west coast its going to get to oregon at about 10 15 a. M. Local time and actually end in South Carolina around 2 45 p. M. Local time. It takes aen ho an hour and a ho get across the country. We have an interactive google map, click on any point in the United States and find out all of the specifics of timing. Excellent. Ladies and gentlemen, were going the wrap up here. Now, again, dont change that dial. Were going the take a brief intermission with some safety videos and other eclipse content. Well come back here with 2 30 with the scientists. You dont want to misthis discussion. I want to thank our hosts, the panel, all of the organizations here and the fact that we are getting ready with two months out. Were still going to be updating all of the websites that youve heard. Go to nasa. Gov eclipselive. Remember that for the live shop. Eclipse2017. Were going to do one last thing. I need audience participation. We talked about safety, safety, safety. Get those glasses, get ready for the eclipse. August 21. Were prepared. Well see you at 2 30. [ applause ] that same event also included a panel of researchers talking about the Science Behind the total Solar Eclipse and how nasa plans to capture images of the event. This is an hour. Good afternoon, my name is gain brown with nasa Headquarters Office of communications. Were coming to you from the new sooem here in the Nations Capital. Our first briefing featured assets and being prepared. The second and last briefing is about the science. You really dont want to miss this. Weve got some very very excited