Tomorrow, the Solar Eclipse of the Century will darken America (your office) for two minutes. Of course this means that NASA, partnering with researchers from Montana State University, will be sending 50 high-altitude balloons 80,000 feet into the sky to get amazing footage, Reuters reports.
NASA will “air the four-hour show” here which it describes here:
NASA Television will air a four-hour show, Eclipse Across America, with unprecedented live video of the celestial event, along with coverage of activities in parks, libraries, stadiums, festivals and museums across the nation, and on social media.
Eclipse Across America will run from 12pm – 4pm EDT.
Yes, social media-ing the hell out of an already awe-inspiring once-in-a-lifetime natural wonder seems like a bit much. But I’m tuning in because the “path of totality”–a diagonal zone under which America will get a total blackout–is only 70 miles wide, extending from Oregon to South Carolina, so the rest of us will only get a partial blackout. (CNN has a prettymuch useless Volvo-sponsored interactive map indicating whether or not your address is located under the path. Mine is not.) For those of you under the path, the sky will turn pitch black, and animals are expected to go nuts. Your chimpanzee might climb to the top of his climbing structure and point to the heavens in awe, for example. Spiders may tear down their webs, birds will sleep, crickets and mosquitos come out, which you can document this on an app Life Responds. First responders are also preparing for traffic accidents, jammed cell phone towers, and an overload of 911 calls. This is going to be insane, and I need footage.
If you actually want to see this thing outside, hurry up and get special sunglasses because the ones at home still allow the sun to burn your eyeballs.
