Hey guys.

I'm Ben Kennedy for CBN News, talking

about the solar eclipse.

The countdown is on.

We are live at the National Air and Space Museum

in the heart of Washington, DC.

Take a look behind me.

You can see there are literally hundreds of people lined up

down below, also to the left.

And they're all here to witness something

that we have not seen in nearly 100 years.

They're also in line, I want to point out, for one of these.

These are the solar eclipse glasses.

They are in demand, they are hard to find

and that is because you really do need them in order

to watch the solar eclipse.

You can see right now we're next to a very large telescope.

This is the Cook Telescope.

We're going to walk on inside to see what they call a sun gun.

We have Rebecca here, who is an astronomy educator.

Guys, this is happening live here.

A little bit of a bang but the sun gun is OK.

Rebecca, thank you so much for joining us live.

For someone who doesn't really know what a solar eclipse is,

break it down.

So a solar eclipse happens when the moon goes

between the sun and the earth.

And a part of the earth will actually see the moon's shadow

cast across it.

This actually happens once or twice a year

somewhere in the world but because of the Earth's

rotation, it doesn't always happen in the same spot.

So we're lucky this year that the spot goes

across the entire United States of America, from coast to coast

starting in Oregon and ending in South Carolina.

And the outer shadow of the moon cast by the sun

will actually hit here, in DC, too.

And Rebecca, it's hard not to see the big telescope

behind you.

Tell us the power, what is it used for?

Of course.

So this telescope is actually about 50 years old.

It was loaned us by Harvard University

after being used to train students how to use telescopes

bigger than it.

However, we're not using the big telescope today

to look at the sun--

it's too powerful.

Instead, we're using this telescope right here

on the side.

It uses the little telescope right up here

on the side of the large telescope,

funnels the light down into what we call our sun gun,

which then projects an image of the sun right

here on our screen which you can actually see right now.

It's going live right now.

Is this a live image of the sun?

Totally is, yep.

Well from eight minutes ago, to be exact.

That's how long it takes the light to get from the sun

to there.

Oh really?

Mhm.

Rebecca, this kind of looks like the moon but it's the sun.

Ah, that's a really great point.

So the moon reflects the sun's light.

And so when we see that light, it often

is the color of the sun, which is actually

this color right here.

It's not the red and the orange most people think it is.

And Rebecca, you're looking at the sun right here.

You see these black spots.

Yes.

What are these spots?

Those are called sunspots.

They're magnetic storms on the surface that

cause that plasma that the sun is made out of

to cool a little bit.

And so they appear darker compared

to the rest of the sun.

Now I know you've gotten the chance to walk outside.

There is a line that stretches down

across the corner, hundreds of people.

Walk me through the atmosphere here

to watch the solar eclipse.

Of course.

So again, like I said, this is the first time

in about 100 years that we're able to see an eclipse cross

coast to coast here in the United States.

So that means a lot of people are excited and a lot of them

are seeing it for the very first time.

And so the atmosphere here is excited.

There's a lot of anticipation here

and we're really excited for 1:17

when we'll start to see that sun,

right there, be covered by the moon.

And they're also in line for these.

We talked about these earlier.

How important is it to have a pair of solar eclipse glasses?

If you don't have access to a safe solar telescope

or you can't make a pinhole projector

by either crossing your fingers or punching a hole in a paper,

then you can use the Safe Solar glasses

to view the eclipse safely.

These are a must.

These are a must if you don't have access to the other two.

Best advice for someone who wants to see the solar eclipse

or be a part of this historic event?

Of course.

So if you don't have access to eclipse glasses or a telescope,

punch a hole in a piece of paper and shine it

through the sun's light on the ground.

You'll be able to see the little crescents

as the eclipse appears.

Also, if you want to start to see totality

in other parts of the country, go to NASA TV

and you'll be able to see it streamed live

starting at 12:30.

Great.

Final question for you--

I think you mentioned it earlier-- what time we'll

be able to see it here in DC?

1:17pm and it'll go all the way to about 4:02pm.

All right, great.

Rebecca, thank you so much.

Again, an astronomy educator.

She's been educating us here live on CBN, as well as myself.

So thank you so much for giving us the lowdown--

I would say-- on the solar eclipse.

You're welcome.

See you in the shadow.

See-- and she has the jokes.

All right, Rebecca, thank you so much.

We're going to head on back outside for just a bit

to kind of conclude our story here.

You can see what I was talking about earlier,

the line does wrap around the corner here.

From the top here you can just see how large

the Cook Telescope is.

The doors open-- as you can see right here on the door--

at 12:30 to 4:00.

Everyone hopes to get on inside, grab a pair of glasses.

And also I want to point out to our CBN Facebook followers,

please comment below.

I'm going to go back, try to answer as many questions

as I can.

And stick with CBN-- we've been working

on stories and coverage for more than a

month now to keep you guys ready for this historic solar eclipse

event.

So stop in at CBNNews.com, also follow us

on Facebook and Twitter.

We can't wait to see you guys there.

And also we'll see you when it gets dark out in just a bit.

Again, I'm Ben Kennedy from CBN News,

live at the National Air and Space Museum

here in Washington DC.