NASA Marshall Scientists Available to Media to Discuss August Solar Eclipse Viewing Safety, Science

/PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- For the first time in 99 years, a total solar eclipse will cross the entire nation Aug. 21. NASA scientists will be available to media at 3 p.m. CDT Wednesday, June 21, at the National Space Science and Technology Center (NSSTC) in Huntsville, Alabama. This media opportunity will follow NASA briefings airing live on NASA Television and on the agency's website.

HUNTSVILLE, Ala., June 19, 2017Over the course of 100 minutes, 14 states across the United States will experience more than two minutes of darkness in the middle of the day. The swath of total darkness will cross the southeastern U.S., including parts of Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia and North and South Carolina. Eclipse watchers in north Alabama will see a partial eclipse, weather permitting, with the moon covering about 97 percent of the sun's disk.

To help set the stage for the eclipse, experts will provide brief comments on viewing safety and science and take questions from media. They are:

• Mitzi Adams, heliophysicist in the Planetary Science and Heliophysics branch at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center Science Research Office
• Bill Cooke, lead astronomer in NASA's Meteoroid Environments Office
• Renee Weber, planetary scientist and chief of the Planetary Science and Heliophysics branch

The event will be held in Room 1010 at the NSSTC, located at 320 Sparkman Drive. Interested media should contact Molly Porter at molly.a.porter@nasa.gov or 256-424-5158 by noon on June 21.

For more information on the eclipse, and how to view it safely, visit:

https://eclipse2017.nasa.gov

https://www.nasa.gov/eclipse

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SOURCE NASA