Millions of people in North America are in the so-called "path of totality," where a full solar eclipse will block the sun. The eclipse will be visible along the path starting in Mexico and then crossing through the United States and into Canada.

Texas

Millions of residents across North America find themselves within the much-discussed "path of totality," a geographic route over which a total solar eclipse will momentarily block out the sun. This celestial event is slated to journey across the continent, beginning its passage in Mexico, then weaving through the United States, and finally extending into Canada. Enthusiasts and observers along this path are preparing to witness the full spectacle of the eclipse, an occurrence that momentarily dims daylight and showcases the sun's corona.



Total solar eclipse frenzy grips North America

Just after 11 a.m. local time on Monday morning on Mexico's Pacific coast, the sun will disappear, and across North America, hundreds of science experiments will be prepared for launch. Total solar eclipses over populated areas are rare enough to be excited about. The sun is 400 times bigger than the moon, but it's also 400 times further away. So when all three line up just right, one covers the other perfectly, like a lid sliding onto a pot. The 200-kilometer-wide shadow they make will drift from Mexico across the U.S. to Newfoundland in Canada in just an hour, plunging locations below into total darkness for four and a half minutes. And that's when researchers, the National Space Agency, and thousands of citizen scientists will embark on a data-gathering bonanza. 600 high-altitude balloons will be released. A four-kilometer-long kite will point a measuring instrument at the sun. Rockets will launch from an island in Virginia, and jets will take off to fly inside the path of totality, noses open, cameras on. These experiments will aim to unravel the mysteries of two boundary areas where some of the rules of our solar system remain unknown. On the sun, that's the corona, the star's vast atmosphere. The corona is millions of degrees hotter than the sun's surface below, but that's a bit backwards, and scientists still don't know exactly why. Back on Earth, they'll look at the area above our breathable atmosphere, called the ionosphere. Here, satellites and radio operators communicate, and global positioning systems function. But the ionosphere fluctuates with the sun's energy, and it's especially sensitive to solar flares. The sun, you know, albeit, you know, it's warm, it's bright, it's, you know, it gives us life. At the same time, it's a self-sustained thermonuclear explosion in space that we have to live next to. So the more that we understand how those outer layers work, the better we can kind of predict the violent activity of the sun and try to protect ourselves and Earth. With better tools, more smartphones, and more research centers under its path, more data will likely be gathered during this total solar eclipse than ever before. It's an hour that scientists will study for years to come. Colin Baker, Al Jazeera.

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Tel Aviv-Yafo

Israel-Gaza War

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Perth

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London

Sadiq Khan elected London mayor for third term

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State of Rio Grande do Sul

Climate Crisis

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Irvine

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Baja California

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Willetton

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Jerusalem

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Dover

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Canberra

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Ensenada

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Kyiv

Ukraine Invasion

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Surrey

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Wenchang

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Ankara

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Paris

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Arizona

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Washington

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New York

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Zaporizhzhia

U.S. accuses Russia of using chemical weapons in Ukraine

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Council of the City of Sydney

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