Lowell Observatory

Today’s full solar eclipse was the first in 100 years to stretch from coast to coast in the U.S. Millions of people flocked to the 70-mile-wide path of totality, and one of them is KNAU’s science reporter Melissa Sevigny. She’s on the line with me from Madras, Ore., which was in the center of the path of totality.

Every state in America will witness at least a partial solar eclipse today. In Arizona the celestial show starts at about 9:15 this morning and ends at noon. KNAU’s Melissa Sevigny reports.

On Monday the long-anticipated “Great American Eclipse” will cross the country coast-to-coast from Oregon to South Carolina. Scientists will watch the sun vanish behind the moon using telescopes on the ground and from weather balloons and planes. But what are they looking for? KNAU’s Melissa Sevigny spoke with Lowell Observatory astronomer Gerard van Belle about science that can only be done during a total solar eclipse.

We are now days away from, what some scientists call, “the most beautiful event in the sky,” a total solar eclipse. Only some US cities will be lucky enough to see the moon completely overtake the sun on Monday, when it a casts a long, thin shadow across the country. KNAU’s science reporter Melissa Sevigny is on her way to Madras, Oregon, one of the cities located in, what’s known as, the path of totality. Melissa spoke with KNAU’s Aaron Granillo before she took off.

Total solar eclipses cast an eerie darkness over the day, but astronomers say that's an ideal time to study the sun. Jeff Hall is an astronomer and sun expert at Lowell Observatory. He says when the sun’s brilliance is blocked out by the moon, other solar features appear.