TOTAL ECLIPSE

The Earth, moon and sun will align for a total eclipse in some areas of the world April 8. Californians will see a partial eclipse of about 50%. If you miss the total eclipse this time, you'll have to wait two decades for your next chance in North America. STAR OF THE SHOW

Our sun is one of more than 200 billion stars in the Milky Way galaxy. Here are some other things to consider while our attention is turned to it:

● The light you are seeing from the sun takes about 8 minutes, 20 seconds to travel to Earth.

● In two hours the average solar flare releases enough energy to power the U.S. for 10,000 years.

● The sun rotates on its axis approximately once every 27 Earth days.

● During a single second, the sun converts 4 million tons of matter into pure energy.

VIEWS ON EARTH

The first known records of humans seeing an eclipse date back more than 3,000 years, but people did not begin to understand that Earth revolved around the sun until the 1600s. The fact that NASA has predicted the time, duration and exact path of this eclipse shows some of the regularity of the universe that we have come to understand. Astronomers have predicted other total eclipses for the next 100 years, with the next total solar eclipse visible in the contiguous U.S. will be on August 23, 2044. The 2044 eclipse will be visible in Northern Montana for about 2 minutes. In 2045, There will be a 6 minute total solar eclipse visible on Aug. 12 and it will be visible across the U.S. from Reno to Florida. It’s being called the “Greatest American Eclipse.” You can visit NASA.com for livestream coverage on April 8.

VIA SATELLITE

When you hear the word satellite it might conjure images of high-tech space gadgets, but the moon is Earth’s only natural satellite.

● After April 8, the next total eclipse will be a lunar eclipse on March 14, 2025.

● The first artificial satellite was put into orbit in 1957 by the Soviet Union, and there are an estimated 9,494 active satellites in orbit.

● Our moon is the fifth- largest in the solar system.

Moons of other planets

Mars 2

Jupiter 66

Saturn 62

Uranus 27

Neptune 13