Q&A with Experts About the Upcoming Total Solar Eclipse | National Geographic

Good evening, y'all. I'm Dr. Jada Eisler, a National Geographic Explorer and an observational astrophysicist. We're here in Terrebonne, Oregon. Over my shoulder is Monkeyface, where earlier today climbers were getting high so they could see the views of this beautiful Central Oregon region. Tomorrow, we're getting even higher, 35,000 feet, to view the total solar eclipse. We cannot wait! Legit, super excited!

But before that, tonight we're here at this special Airbnb listing, live from it actually, to talk to our winners, who you'll meet in just a second. We're so excited—can't wait to talk to them, to all the peoples about the solar eclipse. So without further ado, let's get into this special listing and see who we've got on this page. In the meantime, make sure you ask some questions. Act like you're here at the table.

So, here are our awesome winners. This will be Maya; we're gonna talk more to them in a second and hear formally about them. And this is my buddy Beck; we're gonna be hanging out, telling you all kinds of science facts, nerding out, doing all the things. But it's really important that we just get into it right now, so let's get this party started!

Hi Beck! So, thank you. Don't tell us who you are; all about you.

Well, I'm Bobak. I'm a chief photographer for National Geographic. I specialize in night sky imaging—like, night, night—everything at night. And I'm the founder of a program called The World at Night. So I'm a fan of astronomy, eclipse chasers, since '95, so this would be my 13th eclipse. My 13th! But the first one in India, so that's quite different from that altitude.

But let's just start by... Yeah, so our lovely guests are from Southern California. They're the great winners of Airbnb’s “Night At” contest, thing from over 50,000 enter. A bunch of people! And we know many, many of you applied, so wonderfully.

Say, yeah, the connection to the universe! How excited are y'all to be here tonight?

I am so excited! This is a once-in-a-lifetime experience—really!

Yeah, now I don't know about you, but I had planned for the West solar eclipse, partly the astrophysics thing, kind of giving, but also just because it's cool. But did you ever imagine you would be watching a solar eclipse from—

I didn't! It wasn't something I was gonna dream about because I didn't know it was a possibility.

What about you, Rupert? What are you thinking? Who came up with this idea?

Absolutely just flabbergasted and honored to be chosen to be here—and flattered and just overwhelmed!

So on our backdrop, I'm not sure if you mentioned it here, but it's the Smith Rock State Park. So all these natural rock formations are part of the prog. We are not inside, but we're facing a beautiful panoramic view. This is Kobe, in the shadow of the moon, tomorrow by around 10:00 in the morning!

And you would know because isn't part of the work you do to take images of the sky from really scenic places?

Yes! So my work is the connection between Earth and sky. I like to show the night sky, with foreground that is familiar to people so they can connect with science through this. That's a way of science communication, that's true.

And you know, it's interesting. I feel like you two are representing both yourselves and also the sort of many thousands, probably millions of people that are gonna be watching this eclipse, right?

Yeah! And it's this thing that brings us together. It's the thing that brought the four of us here to sit and talk. And so we certainly want to talk about that—we want y'all to ask us about that—but let's dig into some science!

Ask you something about the eclipse: “What is really the science information that we are going to get from it? Why is it so important to astronomers?”

Yeah, are they really rare? They—you know, solar total eclipses are actually pretty weird. There are only a couple every few years. You expect to see some solar eclipses every year because it's, you know, sort of the Sun and the moon orbiting. But total solar eclipses are special, right? Because that special moment where the moon's orbit aligns with our orbit, aligns with the Sun's orbit, and you get this perfect straight line shot—it's really amazing!

So that's actually very rare, and it's also very rare to have it be in a place that people can see. Right? So 70% of our planet is made of water, so the ocean gets to see quite a bit of it, and it's awesome. But to have this special moment where we can see it—and not just we sitting here in Oregon, beautiful Central Oregon, by the way—but also a large swath of the U.S. will get to see it.

Yeah! It's special for the shadow of the moon to start from the Oregon Coast all the way to South Carolina at the crazy speed of 2,500 miles per hour. So this is four to six times the speed of sound, yeah, it’s wild! That's why we cannot hatch—we cannot chase the shadow on our plane tomorrow; the shadow just goes over!

But speaking of eclipses being rare, you know, in fact, if we just sit in one point and wait for the solar eclipses—a long time—330 years! Yeah, there are places in the U.S., two of them in particular, that haven't seen a total solar eclipse in a thousand years!

Yeah, that's why, because the path is very small, it's very narrow. It's quite long but very narrow—less than 100 miles. Usually for this one, it’s about 60 to 70 miles. So it's easy to miss a total solar eclipse, not a partial one, but a total one! That's why it's called a once-in-a-lifetime experience, unless you travel.

Technically, I mean, the last time we've had a total solar eclipse over the U.S. was just under a hundred years ago. So I mean, if you eat your vitamins, eat your veggies, you know, work out real well, you can see more than one!

So, we'll start now. You and me—another coast to coast!

Yeah! I know it was—the previous one in the U.S. was 1979. I was one year old.

I wasn't—I was not here!

Yeah, so, but it's still, you know, it's four decades of no eclipse, no total eclipse with such a large area. So that's why this eclipse is so important to people of this country. Also important to many others coming from international nations because it's an eclipse during the summer.

It's pretty long—two minutes!

Yeah, it could be up to seven, but even two minutes, it's quite easy.

Yeah, don't get people excited! They are not two minutes! Do most people who observe the eclipse for the first time, it looks like two seconds—it’s quick! So don't plan too much for the eclipse, you know? People plan for all sorts of imaging with six cameras, and when it happens, yeah, they're just—they're like cavemen!

Open—can't do anything because some people...

Well, yeah, because sometimes only deep inside us are affected by the eclipse, absolutely!

100% right, Lake. I want to ask Maya and Rupert if y'all had any questions about the eclipse in particular because we don't mind just about facts.

We want to know if you were thinking there was anything about the eclipse that you wanted to know.

Well, my question was answered: how rare is it?

Yeah, pretty rare, yeah!

But it's rare to see from your location!

Yeah, but one thing that you said which really resonated with me was to not get carried away with trying to take photos of it!

Yeah, you know, if you just live—if you just look at it with your own two eyes through the glasses, yeah. You know, that probably will resonate and be the most memorable experience you'll have!

Yeah, highly recommended—not spending the whole time, you know, looking at your cell phone.

It's an interesting thing, right? We live in such a connected time that it seems like you just want to snap it!

Yeah, got to get it, you got to do it! But there’s so much about the fact that Mother Nature is putting on a show for us, and we should be there to watch it.

And there will be plenty of people—you've got us covered, right? You're gonna get plenty of pictures for us?

Yes! I'm going to station two cameras down here and two in the plane, so we will have all sorts of images—close-up views and wide-field views as the shadow approaches.

But another thing I’d like to mention to you, especially to the current young generation, is also called the Eclipse Generation in the U.S. because in the next 35 years we are going to have five total solar eclipses in the U.S. this century!

That's quite—we made a plan earlier that we're gonna watch the next one in 2024.

It's gonna happen in the Northeast U.S.

So you're from Boston, so you can just go visit your family. There will be one over the northeastern United States—that's the next one you'll want to see in April 2024!

Don't miss it! But yeah, there are many coming behind it, so if you can't make this one tomorrow, you really should. You can make the one in 2024—it's definitely not gonna be in a...

What is the one most important science part about eclipses that astronomers are chasing?

So, well, I mean, we chase anything in the sky, we just indiscriminately—it’s awesome! I mean, black holes aren’t the coolest thing to be clear, that's my job. But there are many things that are still left to know.

By setting the eclipse, my favorite fact actually is that we proved Einstein's theory of general relativity using an eclipse, which I think is super cool!

Yeah, in 1918, Einstein was out talking about all the things with general relativity, and people were like, “Psh, that’s not true!”

And so what they did was—you either need something very massive or you need highly precise instruments. So what they had was something very massive in the Sun, and they had the moon crossing in front of it.

And basically what happened was there was a star cluster behind the eclipse, and general relativity argues that very massive things bend space-time.

And so, there is a precise measurement of how much less our light would have been bent if general relativity were true as opposed to Newton's law.

And then the eclipse happened, and everybody was in shock and awe, and then they did the results and they found out general activity was right!

A star was born!

And interestingly, it was found out by a British astronomer and a German scientist during the peak of the war.

Yes! So that shows how eclipses, or science in general, can bring people together and break the political boundaries.

That’s really cool what you said there! I think I understood…I don’t think I actually understood about 75% of that. I’m really proud of myself now!

I mean, that was—that's my favorite sort of historical science! But there is still ongoing science that we're learning right now, right? There’s stuff you can learn about the Sun!

So you can only see the corona when the—well, with some blocking technology—in this case we have the moon to do it for us.

So you can learn things about the corona and why it’s a million times hotter than the Sun’s surface. We still don’t know the answer to that question!

We constantly see the outer corona by satellites, but not the inner ones. So that’s why it’s also important to astronomers to capture the inner corona and then complete it by the satellite view from the outer corona.

That's why it's even available for amateur astronomers to take precise images and share it with scientists to complete this view of the Sun's atmosphere.

Really? So an amateur photographer or astronomer could actually contribute to us?

Yeah! The overall knowledge! And in fact, many are—there are these studies that are going on; folks are trying to understand the ionosphere and how one of the outer layers of our atmosphere works.

It helps us bounce radio waves across the globe.

So, like, these are still questions that you could today decide: “Oh, I want to participate! I want to know this thing!”

And it would be a place for you! So there is active ongoing science in addition to there being awe and sort of the wonderment of the universe.

If there is actual science, they are speaking about eclipses! One part for the general public about the fascinating and dramatic change of light that we see.

So if all parts of nature react to eclipses, during totality—in partial, you don’t see much, you don’t see any changes. But in a total eclipse, especially the last two minutes before totality, the change of light is not linear; it just drops all of a sudden!

So it surprised everybody! Because you look around and almost—the shadows are very sharp when we get close to totality.

But that last two minutes really surprisingly changes everything, and you see the birds are flying back to the nest, mosquitoes are flying, and answers come out; and then absolute silence during totality—unless people are screaming!

Five to fifteen degrees for a night! We have a change of temperature during totality—you feel the wind and breeze or some clouds forming sometimes due to totality.

So a lot of changes are happening. So up here, where we have a lot—not a lot of light pollution—and the moon actually completely blocks out the Sun, it will be totally dark!

Yeah, so part of the reason you see the stars is that because the Sun is behind the Earth, and so it’s coming—dark nighttime!

Okay, that's not—you’re not gonna get quite that same effect, but I just want to remind us where we are. We're here in Terrebonne, Oregon, hanging out with Rupert and Maya here who have won the Nat Geo and Airbnb solar eclipse prize. We're still very excited about that!

Let me just get some questions from online. So one of the questions from Gabe is, “Why can’t the solar eclipse be seen from everywhere?”

That's a great question, and it has to do with the fact that you're really standing in the moon's shadow. And while the moon can cast a shadow on the Earth based on its location from the Sun and what the Earth's location from it is, that shadow size depends on the location.

So it's like when you stand in the shadow of a building, right? Like, where the Sun is determines where that shadow is. And so you don't get full coverage; there are just certain regions based on the actual orbits and how far they are from one another that allow you to see them. So it’s sadly not there for everybody, but it’s basically sitting in the moon's shadow!

Now, one thing that is science that I think—I mean, that was science too. One thing that’s also interesting in terms of science is the fact that this time, like, astronomically speaking, is a special time to see the eclipse!

So where we're about—the Sun is about 400 times larger than the moon, and the moon is about 400 times closer. So that's why the moon right now can actually block the Sun! Such a coincidence!

Otherwise, we couldn't see—we couldn't see! If you went fifteen thousand years back in time, it wasn’t a total solar eclipse. And if you go fifteen thousand years forward in time, it wouldn't be a solar eclipse because the moon is just slightly moving out every year from the Earth!

And so at some point, six hundred million years from now, I think it is actually—because fourteen thousand miles a year—we won’t even get total eclipses!

It’s really, really, really special!

So let's get to another question! I guess this is for you and I, but Beck, when—how old were we the first time we thought we wanted to be a scientist?

Oh, I was 13 when I got my first astronomy book, and I realized this is my passion. I didn’t become a scientist; I studied physics and continued as a science journalist. I became a bridge between scientists and the general public!

Yeah, so I became a bridge too in a different way. So I got my bachelor's and master's degrees in physics. I studied astronomy, and I do astrophysics now.

And I also do stuff like this 'cause I'm really interested in talking to y'all about cool things in space—black holes next time! Promise!

So we've got a lot of footage, and you know, one of the things we talked about was science, but we also want to talk about the work you do and the images you do. Because the other very important thing about the solar eclipse is it brings folks together!

So maybe you could walk us through some of the images you see. You talked about, did just a few—just a few from the 13?

So why don't you walk us through some of your images?

Sure! Sure, I’d like to just answer Rupert's question on the eclipse unit because you asked a very good question.

I'm going to show it on one of the pictures later on. Okay, but let's first start with this one—this was the first major eclipse ISO. Yeah, it was in 1999.

And it's exactly 18 years ago! It was in Iran—the diamond ring with the clouds around it!

So every 18 years the eclipse returns! That's called Saros! We know it from Babylonian time 2,500 years ago. And this is the same eclipse coming now; the last one was in Europe, in Iran, Middle East, but now this one is mainly in the U.S.—only in the U.S.!

The next one could—you refresh your hair, your screams?!

We could! I make sure we get all of that! And while we're doing that, let me just remind y’all that tomorrow we will be having live coverage of the eclipse from Nat Geo and Airbnb. So really want to make sure you get to see that!

And while he's doing that, let me answer—are you ready? Good? No? Okay, let me answer another question!

So a lot of y'all are asking about safety; we're definitely gonna have an extended conversation about safety! But here's the view: number one—do not look directly at the Sun!

We're not gonna do that—no looking directly at the Sun! You need to have solar eclipse glasses. Your sunglasses do not count, so please don't just look at the Sun with your sunglasses!

So what you want to do—the only moment where it’s okay to actually look at the Sun, or look at this—totally, because it’s during totality! And be very careful in that moment!

But best-case scenario is always wear your solar eclipse glasses.

But Beck, what do you got?

So here is when the eclipse is not total, but it’s actually a total eclipse, but the moon is not large enough to show the corona, to cover the complete Sun. That's called the annular eclipse! I captured this one in Spain, 2005, the sequence of leaves!

It's a sequence of seven images, right before a couple of minutes before totality and a couple of minutes after, including the corona during the—amazing!

Some people are just chasing eclipses much more than me! This person on board the cruise ship is just showing all the eclipses from the 1970s to now that he has changed in all continents!

So the eclipses took me to all continents—two to seven of them—but not all of them were successful!

Okay, so this one in Antarctica in 2003 shows me and a group of fifty, sixty thousand penguins! So the king penguins are here, and it's a very good question, actually!

That was the most memorable part of the trail because I was documenting this for a TV series, and I was hoping to show how the penguins are reacting. They showed zero reaction! Look, during totality, they were the only ones with zero reaction!

That is so fun! The eclipse has also taken me to Central America. Amazonia—this is with a group of people in Panama, and we were trying to tell them what is going to happen in the next couple of days with the eclipse coming!

This one was in the middle of the Pacific Ocean! That was the longest total solar eclipse in the 21st century! We saw it for six minutes, fourteen seconds! It was long enough to read a newspaper article!

The same moment with a telescope on board the ship! And then in 2013, I went to northern Kenya—three days on a very rough road to Lake Turkana on the northern side, which is also known as the Cradle of Humankind!

Yeah, but unfortunately, just half an hour before the eclipse, we had a sandstorm! It was completely clear sky! I don't know the southern sandstorm, so that was the only thing I saw—a little bit of partial eclipse—that's it!

Well, let me ask you this: that seems sad!

We will get above the clouds this time!

Yes! But Beck, let me ask you this question, and it’s gonna be our sort of last little segment before I will have to say go back. But one of the questions is: “You've seen so many—do you feel like they've changed you?”

And maybe you could talk specifically about how they have functioned to bring people together in your journeys.

Oh yes, definitely! First, they have changed me because every time you see it—as I said, something very deep inside you reacts!

Yeah! And you feel you have received so much positive energy from the eclipse that you are energized for the next few years. So it's good to see an eclipse every now and then!

Under things that you think of yourself as somebody who can control all your emotions—but forget about that during the eclipse!

I have seen during my last eclipse in Indonesia, my hand was shaking after eleven eclipses! On my twelfth, my hand was shaking; I couldn't hold the camera!

Yeah! During the talk, I decided to do handheld photography! I don’t recommend this—it’s such an emotional experience!

Well, today, cameras are sensitive enough to capture the image handheld during totality!

Back to your question—it’s as bright as the full moon, even slightly brighter, because the corona of the Sun is brighter than the full moon!

So you only see a few stars like in deep twilight, so it's possible to do handheld photography! But I recommend you use a tripod for sure!

One of the things I do want to make sure we get—the fifty, yeah! I was telling you before about using solar eclipse glasses. It’s something you want to make sure you have—we've got them covered! Y’all are good! Totally solid, covered!

But you want to make sure you have something for safety. Nothing other than approved total solar eclipse classes will work!

The one thing that I want to make sure we get you, though beyond you wearing your glasses, is that you can use pinhole projectors!

If you want to do that when people are—when you're together! If you've got a large group of people, you want to view it together—you can do that!

If you want to see some of the shadow bands, you can put down paper and you'll see those in the background.

But please don't look directly at the Sun! Also, take this opportunity to get to know someone you don't know!

This is a magical moment that allows you to get to know some people that you might not know, to get to know people you know a little bit better! It brings people together!

It's part of the work that I do; I'm an astrophysicist. I kind of like science communication!

I'm also very passionate about making sure that anyone who's interested—even a little bit—in STEM or STEAM or STEAM labs or 3D printing gets an opportunity to do it!

So make sure that you're taking this opportunity to get together with other people, to engage folks that you might not otherwise!

And maybe we can see a little bit of change in us at the same time we’re seeing nature do the thing!

So please do—I'd like to emphasize the point of safety! If you're using a telescope or a telephoto lens, remember—the filter should be definitely in front, not in the eyepiece!

So one of the most dangerous things that some people try is to wear one of the eclipse glasses and look through a binocular without protection in front. So that doesn’t work!

The protection should be in front, on top of the binocular or a telescope! During totality, we don’t need any eclipse glasses; we don’t need any filter!

In fact, if you have a filter for photography, you need to remove it five seconds, ten seconds before totality and get ready for it!

With the filter, you're not going to capture anything of the solar corona! And that’s the most tricky part, because if you forget that with all the emotion reaction, you will miss the image!

Yeah! During totality, it's so dark that we don’t need that filter, and it’s totally safe! At the moment, there’s many concerns in the media that the eclipse is going to damage the eyes!

That's true, but that shouldn't prevent us from going out because some people might just see it in indoor—watch it through a TV!

That's not a good idea! You're on the totality path—you should experience it yourself!

But when do you put the glasses back on again?

As soon as you start seeing them... Yes, the diamond ring—that's the effect that the first light of the Sun is coming out, or the last rays of the Sun before totality!

So that's called the diamond ring! I have a picture of that to show you!

In fact, here is the diamond ring! The diamond ring that Bobak is talking about is called Bailey’s beads! And that is enough fact where the sunlight comes through the valleys and mountains on the moon, and that's what we see!

So that’s what you’re thinking after the diamond ring! If you have a pair of binoculars, you can clearly see it— or even with the eyes!

You definitely see! In fact, for those people who are on the edge of the path, that's the place to see very strong Bailey's beads for a long time!

Like we’ve seen at St. Louis or Kansas City—these are places that people can actually see the Bailey's beads for a long time!

Anywhere near the edge, so it’s not always the best to go to the centerline—that's best to see the longest ability, right?

But not some of the side phenomena!

Right! Exactly! There’s a lot to see with the eclipse! And just to be clear—if you don’t have solar eclipse glasses, then you can do projection!

So, like Beck said, you don’t have to not see the eclipse because you don’t have the glasses! Do it in projection!

Google “pinhole projector” and it’ll show you how to do it. It’s two pieces of paper—one has a hole in it, projected on the other, and you can see the eclipse.

Don’t miss out because you don’t have glasses!

Yeah! I’d like to also mention under the trees, like this picture here, you see a lot of credence suns.

During—we don’t have a tree on the plane, but on your next eclipse you can try it!

So for anybody, so between the leaves we have a lot of pinhole cameras, because there are gaps between the leaves of the trees.

So each one of these gaps makes one picture of the Sun! On a typical day, we don’t really care about this because they’re all circles, but during the eclipse they become all crescent suns, and it’s quite photogenic!

And it’s a very safe way of viewing!

That's beautiful! That is such a unique way of looking at photographing the eclipse!

Now you can also have your own cardboard and make your watch over my head!

So this has been an incredible time here in Terrebonne, Oregon!

In your special Airbnb, no—rely from your bedroom for the night! And you were saying that one of the things you're most excited about is just to stare out at the sky tonight!

Yeah, clear route! It's gonna be amazing! I counted the Milky Way!

Yeah, right? I kind of wish I could just, like, sit right on the corner and just hang out and watch it!

This has been really awesome! Are there any closing questions y'all have for us?

Wonderful! We're so, so glad to hear it! So it's been a blast here—thank you, Nat Geo and Airbnb!

We've really enjoyed this time together—we cannot wait to see you tomorrow! We’ll be at 35,000 feet!

I mean, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait! Let me back up—have y’all got time tonight?

Yeah, we have to!

We hope y’all viewing have had a great time too! Tomorrow I’m pretty sure we’re gonna have a little more fun!

This will be at 35,000 feet, watching the eclipse while we’re doing that, right?

I know! Every time I feel like what’s happening! You should watch the live Nat Geo and Airbnb show! I wear Terry Virts and Cara Santa Maria will be hosting; you might even get a cameo from us too!

So don’t miss it! Join us tomorrow to see that show! We've had a great time here in Terrebonne, Oregon!

Thanks, Airbnb! Thanks, Nat Geo! Thanks, Bobak! Thanks, Rupert! Thanks, Maya!

Thanks, nice!

Right! Good night!