“Eclipse Across America:” Could This Event Bring Us All Together?

Wednesday, August 16, 2017

“Eclipse Across America:” Could This Event Bring Us All Together?

“Eclipse Across America:” Could This Event Bring Us All Together?:

If you are looking forward to the August 21 solar eclipse as much as we are, you’ll want to check out a new series on CuriosityStream called “Eclipse Across America.”

The four-part series takes an inside preview at this highly anticipated event. NASA experts, an international group of astronomers and seasoned eclipse chasers reveal secret viewing spots and tips on how to safely view what could be for millions of people a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see one of the most spectacular sights in nature: a total solar eclipse.

Our friend and Astronomy Cast co-host Dr. Pamela Gay, who is also the Director of Technology at the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, is part of the all-star “astronomy cast” (pun intended) of experts, and she talked with us about her part in the show.

“I get to talk about the really cool parts of an eclipse, where you can experience totality and actually feel the temperature change,” she said. Using state-of-the-art special effects, Pamela gets to show off what the eclipse will likely look like at spots around her location in the St. Louis, MO area. “There’s the fickleness of it, where some buildings will see totality and another won’t,” she said. “Of course, the closer you get to the centerline the longer totality will be, and there are some beautiful locations where you can see it.”

A special effects image from CuriosityStream showing how the solar eclipse could look in St. Louis, Missouri. Credit: CuriosityStream.

The really fun part of this particular eclipse is that it takes a path across the entire continental U.S. I asked Pamela if, given the rather divisive political and social climate these days in this country, could this total solar eclipse become a possible unifying moment?

“I think that during the event there will be a lot of overwhelming experiences that people sometimes have of being in a crowd – such as will there be enough bathrooms,” she said. “But afterwards, I think it will be this shared ‘do you remember when’ moment that we’ll have for the rest of our lives. We all have certain moments that we remember and currently here in the US a lot of those memories are ‘where were you when 911 happened? Or where were you when we started bombing Iraq.’ This will be ‘where you when the sun was eclipsed,’ and that is so much better than ‘where were you when the towers fell down.’”

If you already have a CuriosityStream account, you can watch the series starting with Episode One here. If you don’t, you can take advantage of a 7-day free trial in order to watch this series, and all the other great science offerings available, such as Stephen Hawking’s Universe, Brian Cox’s Wonders of Life, and other topics from astronomy observing tips to info about various missions to theoretical physics. Check it out. If you’re interested in continuing after your free trial, the ad-free streaming service costs $2.99, $5.99 and $11.99 per month for standard definition, high definition, and ultra high definition 4K respectively.

The post “Eclipse Across America:” Could This Event Bring Us All Together? appeared first on Universe Today.

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The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is the United States government agency responsible for the civilian space program as well as aeronautics and aerospace research. President Dwight D. Eisenhower established the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in 1958 with a distinctly civilian (rather than military) orientation encouraging peaceful applications in space science. The National Aeronautics and Space Act was passed on July 29, 1958, disestablishing NASA's predecessor, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). The new agency became operational on October 1, 1958.

UFO SIGHTINGS PHOTO PHOTOGRAPHY

The Oxford English Dictionary defines a UFO as "An unidentified flying object; a 'flying saucer'." The first published book to use the word was authored by Donald E. Keyhoe. The acronym "UFO" was coined by Captain Edward J. Ruppelt, who headed Project Blue Book, then the USAF's official investigation of UFOs. He wrote, "Obviously the term 'flying saucer' is misleading when applied to objects of every conceivable shape and performance. For this reason the military prefers the more general, if less colorful, name: unidentified flying objects. UFO (pronounced Yoo-foe) for short." Other phrases that were used officially and that predate the UFO acronym include "flying flapjack", "flying disc", "unexplained flying discs", "unidentifiable object", and "flying saucer". The phrase "flying saucer" had gained widespread attention after the summer of 1947. On June 24, a civilian pilot named Kenneth Arnold reported seeing nine objects flying in formation near Mount Rainier. Arnold timed the sighting and estimated the speed of discs to be over 1,200 mph (1,931 km/h). At the time, he described the objects' shape as being somewhat disc-like or saucer-like, leading to newspaper accounts of "flying saucers" and "flying discs". In popular usage the term UFO came to be used to refer to claims of alien spacecraft. and because of the public and media ridicule associated with the topic, some investigators prefer to use such terms as unidentified aerial phenomenon (or UAP) or anomalous phenomena, as in the title of the National Aviation Reporting Center on Anomalous Phenomena (NARCAP).

UFO PHOTO PHOTOGRAPHY

UFO - Unidentified Flying Object An unidentified flying object, or UFO, in its most general definition, is any apparent anomaly in the sky that is not identifiable as a known object or phenomenon. Culturally, UFOs are associated with claims of visitation by extraterrestrial life or government-related conspiracy theories, and have become popular subjects in fiction. While UFOs are often later identified, sometimes identification may not be possible owing to the usually low quality of evidence related to UFO sightings (generally anecdotal evidence and eyewitness accounts). Stories of fantastical celestial apparitions have been told since antiquity, but the term "UFO" (or "UFOB") was officially created in 1953 by the United States Air Force (USAF) to serve as a catch-all for all such reports. In its initial definition, the USAF stated that a "UFOB" was "any airborne object which by performance, aerodynamic characteristics, or unusual features, does not conform to any presently known aircraft or missile type, or which cannot be positively identified as a familiar object." Accordingly, the term was initially restricted to that fraction of cases which remained unidentified after investigation, as the USAF was interested in potential national security reasons and/or "technical aspects" (see Air Force Regulation 200-2). During the late 1940s and through the 1950s, UFOs were often referred to popularly as "flying saucers" or "flying discs". The term UFO became more widespread during the 1950s, at first in technical literature, but later in popular use. UFOs garnered considerable interest during the Cold War, an era associated with a heightened concern for national security. Various studies have concluded that the phenomenon does not represent a threat to national security nor does it contain anything worthy of scientific pursuit (e.g., 1951 Flying Saucer Working Party, 1953 CIA Robertson Panel, USAF Project Blue Book, Condon Committee).

Photos of Nature | Nature Photography What is The Universe

Photos of Nature | Nature Photography What is The Universe

Wednesday, August 16, 2017