Newsdesk Archive

Terence McKenna has helped shape the thinking of perhaps millions of psychonauts, weirdos, hippies, freethinkers, and countless others on the fringes of society.  He was fond of the quote, “The world is not only stranger than you imagine, it is stranger than you can imagine.” So why would he not see how strange and varied the UFO experience can be.

Peña de Juaica - Penis of Juaica - (pronounced: why-ka) is a remote and legendary mountain situated between the municipalities of Tabio and Tenjo at an altitude of 3,100 meters (10,170ft) above sea level. This dominant phallic sentinel which once guarded the rich agricultural territories of the pre-Colombian Muisca people who inhabited this territory. Known locally as La Puerto de Los Dioses - the Gateway of the Gods - this story recounts the recent discovery of the ancient gatekeepers.

In cooperation with colleagues from Germany and the United States, researchers at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) have managed to demonstrate 'diamond showers' forming in the ice giants of our solar system. Using the ultra-strong X-ray laser and other facilities at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center  in California, they simulated the conditions inside the cosmic giant. For the first time ever, they were able to observe the fission of hydrocarbon and the conversion of carbon into diamonds in real time, and published their results in the journal Nature Astronomy.

Migraines are a problem that afflicts 1 in 4 US households.  They can sometimes be caused by magnesium deficiency, and hospital emergency rooms often give migraine patients an IV treatment that contains magnesium. Taking magnesium at home rarely works because oral forms of magnesium, such as pills, are poorly absorbed by the body and have little effect on migraines.  But Zyclear was created to solve this problem, and is made from a special form of liquid magnesium that is applied to the back of the neck and absorbs through the skin, making it highly effective.

A team of researchers affiliated with several institutions in the US has found that warming in Alaska has sometimes caused the Kodiak bear to switch to eating elderberries during salmon spawning periods instead of eating salmon. In their published paper, the group describes their multi-pronged study of the impact that seasonal changes occurring on the Kodiak Archipelago are having on the bears that live there.

Cement is the world's most widely used material apart from water, largely because it is the key ingredient in concrete, the world's favourite building material.  With some tweaks to the recipe, cement and concrete can be made kinder to the planet.

Archaeologists have unearthed Neolithic remains believed to be dating back to 6,000 years during a new metro line construction in central Istanbul.  Neolithic circular structures and urn type burials were discovered by the Istanbul Archaeology Museum experts at the construction site of the subway station in Besiktas district.  According to the experts, the discovery will reveal important information that would shed light on the history of Istanbul and the Bosphorus Strait separating the city's Asian and European sides.

Archaeologists excavating a site in Vietnam's Mekong Delta have discovered evidence for a previously unknown 4,500-year-old trading network. Led by Australian National University archaeologist Catherine Frieman, the team discovered stone axes at a site in a region which has no stone resources of its own.  They feel this demonstrates not only that artifacts were being moved around, but also shows evidence for a major trade network that included specialist toolmakers and technological knowledge.

Cryonics is the practice of deep-freezing recently deceased bodies, or even just the brains of those who have recently died,  in the hopes of one day reviving them. It has been the subject of serious scientific exploration and study - as well as a fair share of pseudoscience, lore, and myth. But recently, for the first time ever in China, a woman has been cryogenically frozen who died at the age of 49 from lung cancer.

In an unplanned bit of serendipity for NASA, the International Space Station with a crew of six on board was seen in silhouette as it crossed in front of the sun at roughly five miles per second during a one phase of the August 21 total solar eclipse. The view from the ISS was also out of this world, with astronauts able to see the entire shadow of the moon over the Earth.

The ancient Egyptian civilization was wedded to the Sun, and yet extant records only ever mention the solar aspect as the giver and sustainer of life that shines brightly for all eternity. Sterling astronomers, the Egyptians, unlike the Mayans, never left us details of the times when the sun-god Ra briefly vanished from the sky at daytime. The lack of chronicles of eclipses by the inveterate and meticulous “sky watchers” is utterly baffling. But why would a rare occurrence such as a solar eclipse fail to find mention in their religious and cosmological texts?

The Los Angeles Times newspaper is asking folks to share their solar eclipse-related tales of woe... because, they say, misery loves company.

Numerous fashion designers are currently trending futuristic designs to emulate NASA and space-related themed fabrics.  Bill Nye the Science Guy has a less bleak read on why fashion is suddenly looking to space again:  “Space brings out the best in people, because it’s inherently optimistic,” he said. “You’re dipping your toes in the cosmic ocean. We’re exploring, and when you explore, you’re going to have an adventure. That’s what fashion is all about.”

Thought-provoking article in which the curator of the British Museum explores what the ancient people in Babylon and Mesopotamia thought of this celestial choreography phenomenon.  Although people remain separated by beliefs today as much as ever before, we share the basic human curiosity about our place in the universe and a thirst for knowledge. We’re lucky to live at a time when we can learn from so many other people, past and present. We have ever more information, and can better understand what it all means. We get to push back the fear, but keep the wonder.

The path of totality—the swath of America that, as the solar eclipse sweeps over the country August 21, will fall under its full shadow — is a busy place to be this week, as people prep for a deluge of tourists, scramble to find safety glasses, and gird themselves for possible encounters with notorious lizard men.  In all this hubbub, though, some towns are still finding time to plan for the future: they’re making eclipse-themed time capsules.

Story highlights travelers who planned for 5 years to travel nearly 400 miles to total solar eclipse crossroads college town of Carbondale Illinois.

While not in the ways claimed by astrologers, it can’t be denied that the motions of the heavens sometimes have a strong influence on events on Earth. We can with confidence predict that a full solar eclipse, such as that visible across the USA and online today, will prompt unusual actions from large numbers of people, as well as peculiar animal behaviour and a dip in the generation of solar power, as the sun casts the moon’s shadow over part of the Earth.

The 2017 eclipse is an important chance to track the effects of an eclipse on solar power and learn lessons that will be useful in 2024, when another eclipse will sweep from Texas to Maine. But this isn’t the first time utilities have paid close attention to the grid during a solar eclipse. Back in 1925, the electrical companies serving New York City were interested in the eclipse that passed over Manhattan, and set out to measure its impact.

The total solar eclipse may have you stressed, but some paranormal experts say it could be heavenly energies working on you. If the aligning of the sun and the moon could heighten our emotions and behaviors, then why wouldn't it affect the spirits around us?

Bored traders with too much computer power have found the key to the next stock market crash: the solar eclipse.  Fed up with political dramas that can be tough to trade on, some have turned their attention to an obscure theory that says market reversals tend to begin around the time of a lunar eclipse and end around the time of a solar eclipse.

In certain ways, a solar eclipse is a great equalizer: we’re all under the same sun, and everyone within the path of totality today will be able to enjoy the same few minutes of wonder. If you want to watch the event with abandon, though, it’s best to wear a pair of eclipse glasses — currently a hard-to-find accessory. To that end, at least two cities have been providing free eclipse glasses to homeless community members.

The regular movements of the heavens are the oldest and deepest intimations of order in the universe. So it is hard, no matter how enlightened you consider yourself to be, not to feel a primordial lurch in your gut when the sun suddenly disappears from the sky.  But we are children of the light, and when the light comes back, we’ll be dancing in it. That, by the way, is a fine time to cry.

Developed by a retired NASA astrophysicist, this user-friendly interactive globe showing the routes taken of more than a dozen total eclipses of the sun taking place around the world over the next two decades. In the map below, the three lines of each path represent the northern, central and southern borders of the path of totality.  Note: The interactive globe works best in the latest versions of Safari, Chrome and other browsers.

Just in time for back-to-school.  Take a step back from your telescope and take a look at these goodies.  With these stellar items at your fingertips, you’ll be able to blast off into the school year, ready and willing to explore the great unknown.

In case it’s not abundantly clear by now, on Monday, August 21, the Great American Eclipse will sweep across the United States. While a total solar eclipse may appear otherworldly and ethereal, there is a ton of science to suggest it is totally normal. But as evidenced by posts on Craiglist and other dark corners of the internet, mounds of scientific evidence won’t stop people from believing some pretty bizarre eclipse myths—mostly ones that involve sex and/or death.

Storytellers have long fixated on the awe-inspiring phenomenon that is a total solar eclipse. From ancient myths about dragons eating the sun to hundreds of more contemporary depictions in any number of sci-fi TV shows eclipses have been so present in fiction that they can be traced through literally thousands of years’ worth of storytelling across a wide range of mediums. Mapped across history, these depictions can provide insight into everything from a writer’s cultural identity to how scientific advancement changed the way humans interpret natural phenomena. But how accurate are they? How are solar eclipses portrayed differently across different mediums? What kinds of narrative trends have they been part of?

For most Americans, the total solar eclipse on August 21 will be a piece of celestial entertainment. Impressive, even awe-inspiring, but perhaps also a welcome distraction from work, or something to bring the family together for a few brief minutes.  For scientists across the nation, however, the event will be an unmissable opportunity to learn about aspects of space and the sun they can’t study properly at any other time. Here are some of the experiments that will be taking place during the brief blackout.

The planet is just days away from the shadow of a solar eclipse passing over its surface, providing a rare spectacle for those lucky enough to see an event that will be watched and recorded by millions, but timelapse footage taken from space presents a view of an eclipse few will ever witness firsthand.  Japan's Himawari 8 weather satellite caught the moment when the moon's shadow passed over the Pacific in stunning detail.  Timelapse footage shows a stunning angle that few will witness.

Dressed in a dark blazer and a polka-dot tie, ABC News' Frank Reynolds anchored the network's live coverage of a total solar eclipse 38 years ago. Although that celestial phenomenon on Feb. 26, 1979 was only visible from the Pacific Northwest, it was the last total solar eclipse over the contiguous United States to take place that century -- and just like this year, the rare event captured the imagination of the nation.  Article contains video link to watch the broadcast.

As Copernicus persuasively demonstrated in the 16th century, the Earth orbits the sun, not vice versa. Ptolemy’s geometry may have been sound, but his physics was backwards. While demonstrating that mathematics is essential to describing nature and predicting physical phenomena, he inadvertently showed that math can be successful without being right.  Copernicus worked out the math for a sun-centered planetary system. It was a simpler system than Ptolemy’s. And it was just as good for predicting eclipses.  As it turned out, though, even Copernicus didn’t have it quite right.

This lengthy, but well-written and entertaining article, many eclipse related history topics are discussed including, but not limited to:  Galileo, Christopher Columbus, the Pitcairn Islands, Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, Thales the Milesian, and Bailey's Beads.

Educational article, written by a Professor Emeritus of Physics, explains beliefs and mythology of ancient cultures such as Egyptians, Greeks, Eskimos, Ojibwe, Vikings, Baltic, Vietnamese, Chinese, Hindu, Turkish, Alexandrian, and Babylonian.  Also the fact that even with astronomical and astrological advances, these mythologies and superstitions surrounding total solar eclipses still exist today.

Eclipse Day! That means you're hopefully about to witness a rare and profoundly mindblowing celestial event: the first total solar eclipse whose path of totality spans coast-to-coast in the continental United States since 1918.  When the moon precisely lines up between the Sun and the Earth and darkness descends, you're going to want to know what's going on and why people are so psyched. So if you need a little help brushing up on your eclipse knowledge before this spectacular event, we’ve got you covered. Here are all 6 of the must-reads Smithsonian.com has published this summer on the history of awestruck eclipse chasers, ancient eclipse anxiety, Benjamin Franklin's eclipse satire and more. Happy eclipsing!

The day we've been waiting for is almost upon us. August 21, the day of the Great American Solar Eclipse with the path of totality spanning 14 states and seen cross the world, but ... what happens if you don't see it?  Work, illness, or worst of all, cloudcover could prevent you from basking in the glorious shadow cast by the moon passing between Earth and the sun, and sharing this historic eclipse with the nation. We already know that Eclipse FOMO [feelings of missing out] is real, but what if it comes to pass for you?  First of all: take a deep breath. There's hope!

Millions of eyes will gaze toward the heavens August 21 for the first total solar eclipse to cross the United States in nearly 100 years. It will sweep on a path of totality across 14 states from Oregon through South Carolina.  Before and after the event, a gallery at the ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena, California is celebrating with the exhibit “Eclipse.”  In their words, “Back then there was no internet and no spacecraft to examine the sun. The only way astronomers could get a good look at the corona of the sun was to travel on arduous expeditions into remote areas of the world.”

A retired NASA astrophysicist met his true love, a retired chemistry teacher, at an eclipse event in 1970.  Since they shared interests in eclipses and science, the two began dating, and got married in 2006.  Fred and Patricia Espenak now live in Arizona Sky Village, an eastern Arizona village designed for astronomers who want to make observations with minimal light pollution.   The two have turned their love for eclipses into a full-time hobby.  Now they travel the world together, from China to Antarctica, chasing these rare celestial phenomena.

There are plenty of places around the world with some bizarre celebrations and rituals that come out every time the moon passes in front of the sun in a solar eclipse.  Cheeky little article complete with cornball videos from a UK tabloid website, just in time for the Great American Eclipse on 21 August, 2017.

Multiple organizations are livestreaming the event being called the Great American Solar Eclipse in incredible and unique ways.  The folks at Sky and Telescope have provided a partial list. Take a look.

This is a rather detailed scientific firsthand account about how you can sometimes move mountains — or, in this case, airplanes — with a simple suggestion.  A planetarium instructor convinced Alaska Airlines to change flight times, among other things, to provide a glimpse of the darkening sun.  They've done it more than once, for passengers since 2015, and the flights are not specially advertised.

Millions of people across the United States will cast their gaze upward to watch tomorrow’s total solar eclipse as it passes across the breadth of the nation. But what would it look like if you could gaze down on it from a million miles away in space?

Hipparchus, the Greek astronomer and mathematician who lived more than 2,000 years ago, used the solar eclipse to solve a celestial geometry problem.  He was among the earliest scholars to take advantage of eclipses for science. In more recent centuries, scientists have used these celestial events as opportunities to study the solar system, especially the sun itself. Usually, the sun is too bright for scientists to see anything in its immediate vicinity.  Only during eclipses does its radiant halo, the corona, become visible.

The solar eclipse set to take place on August 21st is going to be a sight to behold — provided you have the proper protection for your eyes and camera. Looking at the sun can cause permanent damage, but if you’re not careful, as this informative video proves, you can also destroy your camera.

Animals in the path of the first total solar eclipse to travel across the United States in 99 years have a big surprise awaiting them on the afternoon of 21 August, biologists say.  Zoos, aquariums and other wildlife parks see the celestial phenomenon as a special research opportunity to observe how birds and mammals, both diurnal and nocturnal,  react when the moon's shadow blots out most of the sun's light in the middle of the day.

The "real time sonofication" of the total solar eclipse in a collaboration between the Kronos Quartet and a composer/sound artist at the Exploratorium in San Francisco, California.  The full composition will feature music created digitally from a live feed of the eclipse.  The piece is called The 233rd Day in reference to its 2017 solar eclipse debut date.

Around mid-day 21 August when millions across the US are looking up at the Great American Eclipse, a team of researchers from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics will be flying high above the clouds of Kentucky and Tennessee, totally blind to that rare astral phenomenon happening above their heads.  Instead of playing a giant game of sun peek-a-boo like the rest of us, these four scientists are hoping their flight will begin to unlock some of the most burning mysteries of the sun. But it means they probably won't get to see the total solar eclipse at all.

The first total solar eclipse to sweep North America in nearly a century will march across the continent August 21, casting a shadow over millions of people from coast to coast in swath spanning 14 states.  This historic event dubbed "The Great American Eclipse" is inspiring a surge in tourism in the US along with sky-high prices and a rise in scams.  According to the website greatamericaneclipse.com, between 1.85 and 7.4 million people are expected to travel into the path of totality.  The folks at Phys.org have compiled a compendium of facts.

In 1715, Edmond Halley published a map predicting the time and path of a coming solar eclipse. Today the astronomer is most famous for understanding the behavior of the comet now named for him, but in his lifetime he was a hotshot academic, elected to the Royal Society at age 22 and appointed the second Astronomer Royal in 1720.

With the help of a pagan author and a professional astrologer, this blog entry explains the age old spiritual practices of ritual baths, crystal charging, meditations, and eclipse water making to take advantage of the incredible energies provided surrounding the time of a solar eclipse.

Nothing reminds us that we are on a celestial island surrounded by the abyss like watching our planet's energy source turn into a gaping black hole.  But don't take my word for it. From occult and pagan lore to American history and yes, even Hollywood, solar eclipses have been harbingers of doom

For two years, Charles Fulco, a science teacher from Massachusetts, has toured the nation on NASA and American Astronomical Society grants to educate students about the solar eclipse of August 21.  He has viewed eclipses on four continents.  In this article, he shares his expertise, insights, wisdom, and provides some highlights of his travels.

When the moon slides in front of the sun August 21, millions of viewers will catch a glimpse of the sun’s corona, which will appear as a hazy glow outlining the solid shadow in front of our star. Scientists will be watching closely as well, because eclipses are one of the few times they can easily gather data on a region of the sun that is still poorly understood.

An eclipse is just an eclipse, of course. It won’t solve America’s deepening dysfunctions. But perhaps, in drawing so many together, it can offer a reminder of common bonds long forgotten. As millions of Americans look up, if only momentarily, from their phones, maybe they can also look beyond the pettiness of so much of their politics. Among a crowd of strangers gazing at the unnerving splendor above, they might find a brief moment of grace.

Folks at Atlas Obscura picked 15 of the most-asked and most-intriguing questions sent in by their audience, and then scoured the internet and reached out to experts to get answers. Before witnessing this most jaw-dropping natural event, here’s everything you wanted to know about the eclipse (and probably a few things you didn’t know you were curious about).

If you’ve never seen a total eclipse, you may not know what to expect or what to look for as the world grows dark. To help you out, folks at the Los Angeles Times asked a few of favorite eclipse enthusiasts to tell us what you should do during the total eclipse.

Depending on which ancient society you were part of, these were among the ravenous monsters blamed whenever the life-giving star at the center of our existence disappeared behind the Moon for a full solar eclipse. Before we had science, humans relied on superstition to make sense of the fear-inspiring phenomenon of night falling in the middle of the day, causing the temperature to plummet and birds to stop singing. It was not until we could accurately predict the path of the Moon around Earth, of the Earth around the Sun, and the distances between all three, that total eclipses became less alarming.  But this took millennia.

In the realm of happy endings, it’s pretty tough to top a fairytale wedding that ends with a kiss and a total solar eclipse. So it's understandable that couples nationwide are lining up to get married Monday, August 21, all timing their ceremonies to end when the moon covers the sun for just over two and a half minutes.  This national wedding blitz will start about 10 a.m. in Oregon, where the eclipse will first be seen, and end at about 2:50 p.m. in South Carolina after the path of totality spans 14 states.  At least a dozen eclipse weddings are happening in South Carolina alone.

A total solar eclipse is about much more than total darkness. In the moments surrounding the spectacle, observers in the know can catch some special celestial features that are only visible when the moon blots out the sun.  Here are some of the intriguing sights to look for if you are lucky enough to be in the path of totality.

Americans are eagerly waiting for the solar eclipse passing over the United States on August 21 that can be viewed by more than 300 million people. Every state in the US can get at least a partial view of the eclipse when the Moon completely covers the Sun.  While many know of the risks of watching a solar eclipse with naked eyes, the celestial event has been viewed by millions over the years. However, there are several misconceptions surrounding solar eclipse. Below are few such myths busted by NASA.

A day on Earth is longer than it used to be. The increase is tiny. Over the span of a hundred years the Earth’s day will increase by only a few milliseconds. It’s only been in the past few decades that we’ve been able to measure Earth with enough precision to see this effect directly. Using atomic clocks and ultra-precise measurements of distant quasars, we can measure the length of a day to within nanoseconds. Our measurements are so precise that we can observe various fluctuations in the length of a day due to things like earthquakes.  Those fluctuations make it a challenge to answer another question: How has Earth’s rotation changed over longer periods of time?

With an elaborate augmented reality display, The Weather Channel set the stage for what to expect Monday when the total solar eclipse passes along the entire continental United States.  No AR gimmicks were needed to remind everyone to be smart on August 21; even a partial eclipse can fry your naked eyes.

The Seattle sisters, Rebecca and Kimberly Yeung, who captivated the nation after the launching of their homemade Lego spacecraft previously earned them an invitation to President Obama's White House, are now participating in NASA's Eclipse Ballooning Project in conjunction with the University of Montana on August 21.

A big event here in this unassuming American college town might normally be a heated rival football game at the Southern Illinois Salukis' 15,000-seat stadium. But on August 21, Carbondale is expected to play host to over a whopping 50,000 visitors, all flocking into town to witness one of the most anticipated skywatching events in a century: a total solar eclipse spanning 14 states.  And by pure cosmic coincidence, Carbondale has found itself at the center of eclipse mania.

A British scouting group from the UK has arrived in America to watch the total solar eclipse on Monday 21 August.  The scouts have travelled over 4,500 miles from Salisbury, England, to Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, where they'll be able to witness the amazing event.  BBC is documenting their adventures, and this article shares the video.

Millions of Americans converge on a narrow corridor spanning 14 states from Oregon to South Carolina to watch the moon blot out the midday sun August 21 for a wondrous couple of minutes in the first total solar eclipse to sweep coast to coast in 99 years. Veteran eclipse watchers warned the uninitiated to get ready to be blown away. Planetariums and museums posted “Sold out of eclipse glasses” signs on their front doors. Signs along highways reminded motorists of “Solar Eclipse Monday,” while cars bore the message “Eclipse or bust.”  With 200 million people within a day’s drive of the path of totality, towns and parks are braced for monumental crowds. It is expected to be the most observed, most studied, and most photographed solar eclipse ever. Not to mention the most festive, what with all the viewing parties.

US schools along and near the coast-to-coast path spanning 14 states where the sun will be totally blacked out by the moon during the solar eclipse are taking widely varying approaches. While some districts are seizing the opportunity for ready-made science lessons, others are closing for the day or keeping kids inside because of safety concerns.

In Navajo culture, the passing of the moon over the sun is an intimate moment in which the sun is reborn when tribal members take time out for themselves. No talking. No eating or drinking. No lying down. No fussing. It's a time of renewal, like pressing control-alt-delete on your computer, resetting everything.  Across the country, many American Indian tribes are observing the August 21 total solar eclipse in similar and not-so-similar ways.

Grand Teton National Park in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, is directly in the path of the eclipse totality — where the sun is completely blocked by the moon.  Officials anticipate it to be the busiest day in the history of the park, and are trying to create realistic expectations for visitors as well as staff that there's going to be congestion and traffic gridlock.  The park has brought in reinforcement park rangers.

The solar eclipse of August 21 will be livestreamed online for the first time from the vantage point of helium-filled balloons across the United States, providing the public with sky-high views as the moon blocks the sun.  A team of researchers from Montana State University has partnered with NASA to participate in the Space Grant Ballooning Project to send more than 50 high-altitude balloons 80,000 feet (24,384 meters) altitude.  The article contains a link for the video feed.

Solar eclipses have been fascinating—and often terrifying—humans throughout the course of history.  For the first time in nearly 100 years, a solar eclipse’s path of totality, where the entire sun is obscured by the moon, will cross a wide swath across the United States on August 21, 2017.  As millions prepare to witness the phenomenon, find out how some early cultures and religions tried to explain and understand a solar eclipse.

Usually when you move away from a heat source, it gets cooler.  Not so in the sun's atmosphere.  A total solar eclipse shines a light on the sun's elusive atmosphere. When the moon blocks the sun, it’s finally possible to see how this diffuse cloud of plasma, called the corona, is magnetically sculpted into beautiful loops. The material there is about a trillionth the density of the solar surface. From its delicate and diaphanous appearance, you might expect the corona to be where the sun goes to cool off.That couldn’t be more wrong. The corona is a mysteriously sizzling inferno where the temperature jumps from a mere few thousand degrees to several million degrees. Why?

Eclipse mania is building and so is demand for the glasses that make it safe to view the first total solar eclipse to cross the US in 99 years.  Lines are forming, prices are rising, and shelves are emptying as people scurry to obtain special eyewear to view the sun on August 21 as it is obscured by the passing moon. Complicating the rising demand from last-minute shoppers was a recent recall by Amazon that forced dozens of libraries, health centers and schools around the country to recall glasses they gave away or sold.  One of the approved manufacturers selling the special glasses, American Paper Optics, has sold 45 million pairs over the last two years — 10 million in the last 4 weeks alone.

Starting in 2019, there will be many other opportunities to catch totality, or see it again if you're hooked.  Here’s a list of notable upcoming total solar eclipses, and some of the stunning places you can go view them.

Today, in 2017, volunteers called citizen scientists are again helping scientists make observations and learn more about the sun and Earth interaction. This time though, citizen scientists across the United States will have more direct involvement, actually collecting data by making their own observations and operating instruments.  The article provides a wealth of information compiled by Dr. Liz Macdonald, a NASA scientist and founder of Aurorasaurus.org.

On August 21, the moon and the sun are set to align in a way not witnessed in the United States since 1979.  The Great American Eclipse will cast a shadowy path from Oregon to South Carolina. And solar scientists could not be more excited.  There have been hundreds of total solar eclipses since Galileo first aimed his telescope skyward. But each eclipse offers a few minutes to glean more insight into our nearest star’s deepest mysteries.

The sun can’t keep its hands to itself. A constant flow of charged particles streams away from the sun at hundreds of kilometers per second, battering vulnerable planets in its path.  Scientists don’t understand some key details of how that solar wind works. It originates in an area where the sun’s surface meets its atmosphere. Like winds on Earth, the solar wind is gusty — it travels at different speeds in different areas. It’s fastest in regions where the sun’s atmosphere, the corona, is dark. Winds whip past these coronal holes at 800 kilometers per second. But the wind whooshes at only around 300 kilometers per second over extended, pointy wisps called coronal streamers, which gives the corona its crown-like appearance. No one knows why the wind is so fickle.

During the upcoming solar eclipse, once the moon moves between the sun and Earth and briefly blocks the sun’s light from reaching anything in the path of totality, those animals and people in the path will experience night-like conditions. Animals that live outdoors might exhibit slightly different behavior than usual during the solar eclipse, but it’s hard to know what to expect.  Multiple observations recorded during previous eclipses note cricket activity, several observers even said the cricket noises were all they could hear during the eclipse. Other observers including beekeepers who noted that as the darkness of totality came closer, their bees returned to their hives in larger groups and more rapidly than usual as if preparing for night time.

Last week, a graduate student at Purdue University offered a last-minute research pitch: to record sounds during the total eclipse of the sun on August 21.  Although there was only a week to prepare, the researchers hopped to it, contacting colleagues at museums, universities, and federal agencies around North America to collaborate.  At approximately 100 sites around North America, field recorders are set to record natures’ response to the blotting out of the sun.

The Great American Solar Eclipse is almost upon us and if you're planning to see it, timing is everything. From start to finish, the entire solar eclipse of August 21 runs about four hours, but exactly what you can see and when depends on where you are.

As skywatchers across the United States gear up for what's being heralded as the "Great American Total Solar Eclipse," a team of scientists and pilots is preparing to capture what may be the best view of the August celestial event, from two jet aircraft flying at an altitude of 50,000 feet (15,200 meters), chasing the shadow of the moon as it sweeps across the country. The researchers will use cameras installed on two of NASA's WB-57 research jets to make high-resolution moving observations of the sun's corona — the ethereal streamers of glowing gas in the sun's outermost atmosphere that only become visible during a solar eclipse.

When we understand how myths functioned for the peoples who created them, rather than outsiders interpreting their tales, it's easy to see how they helped to reinforce cultural norms for that culture.  For instance, for the Arapaho tribe, the coupling of the sun and the moon prompted a discussion of sex and incest. In the Andes, where Inca-related people believed that the moon was whispering lies into the sun’s ear, solar eclipses provided an occasion for a discussion about the evils associated with lying.  An intricate version of the another story involved the sun being eaten by a decapitated head of a Hindu demon, Rahu. The god Vishnu, warned by the sun and the moon, caught Rahu drinking the elixir of life and as punishment sliced off the demon’s head before the elixir passed through his throat. The immortal head takes his revenge on the celestial bodies by devouring them, but because he has no body, they re-emerge after he swallows them.  The Florentine Codex, a ethnographic study of 16th-century Aztecs in Mexico, described a solar eclipse in particularly vivid terms: ...And in all the temples there was the singing of fitting chants; there was an uproar; there were war cries. It was thus said: “If the eclipse of the sun is complete it will be dark forever. The demons of darkness will come down. They will eat men!”

Humans have been alternatively amused, puzzled, bewildered and sometimes even terrified at the sight of this celestial phenomenon. A range of social and cultural reactions accompanies the observation of an eclipse . In ancient Mesopotamia (roughly modern Iraq), and other cultures, eclipses were in fact regarded as omens, as signs of things to come. This article explains in depth.

If you're heading to a geographical region of America in the direct path of the total solar eclipse on Monday (Aug. 21), you may want to check out the national wildlife refuges there, because these refuges, run by the US Fish and Wildlife Service, could be prime viewing spots for nature lovers.

The Total Eclipse of the Sun stamp is the first US postage stamp to use thermochromic ink which reacts to the heat of your touch. First, issued in June, 2017, they are rapidly gaining popularity as the date of sun darkening approaches.  Placing your finger over the black disc on the stamp causes the ink to change from black to clear to reveal an underlying image of the moon. The image reverts back to the black disc once it cools. The back of the stamp pane shows a map of the eclipse path.

With the right apps installed, your smartphone or tablet can be a powerful tool for planning and enjoying the Great American Solar Eclipse. It can deliver forecasts of eclipse-spoiling cloud cover and navigate you to sunny skies, and capture images of the eclipse and your own excited reactions to the big event. It can even speak to you, telling you what to look for and when, when to remove filters and enjoy the spectacle of totality with your naked eyes, and when it's time to cover up again. In this edition of Mobile Astronomy, we'll cover which apps to download and how to make the most of this once-in-a-lifetime experience.

While the solar eclipse on Monday, August 21, has been a non-stop media and Internet sensation for weeks, it hasn't produced the dizzying array of products that many American events typically generate.  Special sunoculars priced at $129-499 have sold out at many online stores. Solar filters have also been popular with digital camera owners.  Online sources are offering the expected Eclipse 2017 t-shirts, caps, stickers, magnets, mugs, keychains, books, and jewelry.  Aiports and roadways are clogged.  Campgrounds and lodging places are filling up.  Homeowners are renting their lawns, and people driving to the event have been warned to stock their vehicles with necessities like water and food, as stores and restaurants are expected to run out of supplies.  Restaurant chains, donut shops, winemakers, and the US Postal Service have all ventured into the realm this potential influx of revenue.

A solar astronomer and experience eclipse photographer has some expert advice for people planning to see the Great American Solar Eclipse on August 21: Don’t photograph it.  Unless you're an experienced photographer with good equipment, including the specific filters and lenses, and specialized knowledge to capture the precise moment, don't do it.  "If you stand under a tree with leaves, each gap between the leaves acts like a projection device and you see on the ground hundreds of shimmering images of the crescent sun appearing beneath you," Malville said. "It's really quite an extraordinary experience."

Scroll through an incredible photogallery covering 12 small articles compiled by the National Science Foundation related to scientific experimented either planned or implemented around the sun's anatomy and eclipses.

Unlike most eclipse-watchers in the United States, Eric Schmitt wouldn’t mind seeing a few clouds in the sky when the moon starts blotting out the sun on Monday August 21. “A cloudy morning might even be helpful for us,” he said.  That’s because, as the vice president for operations at the California Independent System Operator, which oversees the state’s electric grid, he will be dealing with an unusual challenge.

John Jerit may be one of the very few people in America you could describe as “eclipse rich.” Jerit’s business, American Paper Optics—one of the major American manufacturers of NASA-approved eclipse glasses — booms every time the sun’s disk gets covered by the moon.  Jerit also happens to be one of the major American collectors of visionary folk art. His sprawling collection of work by “outsider” artists is, in a literal sense, purchased with the help of celestial movements.

What does a partial eclipse look like, anyway? A new web-based tool from NASA lets anyone preview the event from any location, making it easy to see the difference between the upcoming total eclipse traversing a narrow band of the country, and the partial event most Americans will experience. The Eyes on the Eclipse application allows users to simulate a view of the eclipse from any point on the planet, and can be used with any web browser.

While the upcoming total solar eclipse in the US will be a once-in-a-lifetime sky show for millions, there's a small group of people who have experienced it all before and can't get enough of it.   Veteran eclipse chasers spend lots of money and craft intricate plans all to experience another mid-day darkening of the sky. Many of them work in science and related fields and travel around the world, even to Antarctica, just to see one more.

The Eclipse Soundscapes Project uses sound to create a multisensory eclipse experience. The app includes audio descriptions of the eclipse in real time, as well as recordings of environmental sounds that tend to change during an eclipse. Users can also visualize the eclipse through touch, using the app's interactive "rumble map."  NASA, too, is helping blind people experience the eclipse. The agency has created a Braille book called "Getting a Feel for Eclipses," which features graphics that help users learn more about the total solar eclipse and the science behind the celestial event. More than 5,000 copies of the book have been distributed to schools and libraries for the blind, as well as other educational institutions.  According to a spokesperson, NASA is privileged to help bring this historic eclipse to a segment of our population who have previously not had an opportunity to enjoy these celestial phenomena.

The event this August has been called the Great American Eclipse, and that name seems to chime with the country’s current struggles: between reason and unreason, individuality and crowd consciousness, belonging and difference.  On eclipse day when millions of pairs of eyes will focus on a single point, we will all share a vision that will make us one.  This New York Times editorial piece written as a firsthand account explains how being a spectator in a large crowd for an eclipse event may not be what you expected if you're seeking solitary reflection, but you may gain instead an overwhelming sense of humanity, and of what it is made - a host of individual lights shining briefly against the oncoming darkness.

Scientists have forecast the corona of the sun during the upcoming eclipse. The findings shed light on what the eclipse of the sun might look like August 21 when it will be visible across much of the US, tracing a 70-mile-wide band across 14 states.  Researchers used the Stampede2 supercomputer to predict what the eclipse will look like.

Stephen Wolfram, one of the biggest names in mathematical computing, has built a new tool to help skywatchers prepare for the total solar eclipse of August 21, and penned a deep dive into how eclipses have driven mathematics.  It is nothing less than a multimillenium tale of computation.

To this day, many aspects of the Sun remain a mystery: What causes solar flares when massive amounts of energy and plasma are ejected from the sun?  Why is the corona, the solar atmosphere, actually hotter than the surface?  This Great American Solar Eclipse event provides a natural experiment and a unique opportunity for scientists to test some of these questions during conditions which cannot be manually recreated.

The 2017 total solar eclipse has inspired many American mapmakers to create a wide variety of maps, from practical guides for eclipse chasers to whimsical mashups of the eclipse path with unrelated phenomena. It’s the first major eclipse to cross the continent since digital mapping became as popular, accessible and ubiquitous as it is. The folks at National Geographic have gathered some of the prettiest, most informative, and most fun maps being released for the eclipse. One of these called The Sunsquatch Map details the best places to see the eclipse and Bigfoot at the same time.  There is also another for viewing UFOs and the eclipse.

Anticipating the serious need for caution during the eclipse, the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) released its eclipse guide on Friday, outlining some of the biggest dos and don’ts for this monumental event. This isn’t to say it’s all doom and gloom.  Just keep in mind that you’ll better be able to enjoy the eclipse if you know you’re safe and don't get fuzzy eyes.

This image provided by the United States Postal Service on Friday, Aug. 18, 2017 shows a template of a postmark commemorating the Aug. 21, 2017 total solar eclipse over the United States. More than 110 USPS offices in or near the path of the event will offer special commemorative postmarks for the celestial event.

The Great American Solar Eclipse promises to be the celestial event of the century and the Space.com team is super-excited. Folks at Space.com want to know how important the total solar eclipse of Aug. 21 is to you, and how you're celebrating. They invite you to share your solar eclipse plans, hopes, expectations and results with us at their reader email.  Your comments might make it into Space.com's eclipse coverage.