0:00:11.797,0:00:14.967
Before I get to the bulk[br]of what I have to say,

0:00:14.967,0:00:19.167
I feel compelled just to mention[br]a couple of things about myself.

0:00:19.167,0:00:24.497
I am not some mystical,[br]spiritual sort of person.

0:00:24.988,0:00:27.009
I'm a science writer.

0:00:27.009,0:00:29.297
I studied physics in college.

0:00:29.297,0:00:32.768
I used to be a science[br]correspondent for NPR.

0:00:33.418,0:00:35.528
Okay, that said:

0:00:35.848,0:00:39.167
In the course of working[br]on a story for NPR,

0:00:39.167,0:00:43.538
I got some advice from an astronomer[br]that challenged my outlook,

0:00:43.538,0:00:46.189
and frankly, changed my life.

0:00:46.549,0:00:48.679
You see, the story was about an eclipse,

0:00:48.679,0:00:53.419
a partial solar eclipse[br]that was set to cross the country

0:00:53.419,0:00:55.669
in May of 1994.

0:00:55.669,0:00:57.679
And the astronomer - I interviewed him,

0:00:57.679,0:01:01.391
and he explained what was going[br]to happen and how to view it,

0:01:01.391,0:01:06.718
but he emphasized that, as interesting[br]as a partial solar eclipse is,

0:01:06.718,0:01:11.859
a much rarer total solar eclipse[br]is completely different.

0:01:11.859,0:01:15.189
In a total eclipse,[br]for all of two or three minutes,

0:01:15.189,0:01:18.418
the moon completely blocks[br]the face of the sun,

0:01:18.418,0:01:23.661
creating what he described[br]as the most awe-inspiring spectacle

0:01:23.661,0:01:25.509
in all of nature.

0:01:26.159,0:01:28.830
And so the advice he gave me was this:

0:01:29.450,0:01:32.420
"Before you die," he said,

0:01:32.420,0:01:37.112
"you owe it to yourself[br]to experience a total solar eclipse."

0:01:37.492,0:01:39.870
Well honestly, I felt[br]a little uncomfortable

0:01:39.870,0:01:42.210
hearing that from someone[br]I didn't know very well;

0:01:42.210,0:01:43.881
it felt sort of intimate.

0:01:43.881,0:01:48.350
But it got my attention,[br]and so I did some research.

0:01:48.350,0:01:50.499
Now the thing about total eclipses is,

0:01:50.499,0:01:52.782
if you wait for one to come to you,

0:01:52.782,0:01:56.172
you're going to be waiting a long time.

0:01:56.172,0:02:00.731
Any given point on Earth[br]experiences a total eclipse

0:02:00.731,0:02:04.370
about once every 400 years.

0:02:04.730,0:02:08.261
But if you're willing to travel,[br]you don't have to wait that long.

0:02:08.261,0:02:12.782
And so I learned[br]that a few years later, in 1998,

0:02:12.782,0:02:15.810
a total eclipse was going[br]to cross the Caribbean.

0:02:16.540,0:02:19.981
Now, a total eclipse is visible[br]only along a narrow path,

0:02:19.981,0:02:21.782
about 100 miles wide,

0:02:21.782,0:02:23.762
and that's where the moon's shadow falls.

0:02:23.762,0:02:26.162
It's called the "path of totality."

0:02:26.162,0:02:28.522
And in February 1998,

0:02:28.522,0:02:31.971
the path of totality[br]was going to cross Aruba.

0:02:31.971,0:02:36.271
So I talked to my husband,[br]and we thought, well, February? Aruba?

0:02:36.271,0:02:38.371
Sounded like a good idea anyway.

0:02:38.371,0:02:39.421
(Laughter)

0:02:39.421,0:02:41.793
So we headed south,

0:02:41.793,0:02:44.361
to enjoy the sun[br]and to see what would happen

0:02:44.361,0:02:46.870
when the sun briefly went away.

0:02:46.870,0:02:49.862
Well, the day of the eclipse[br]found us and many other people

0:02:49.862,0:02:52.063
out behind the Hyatt Regency,

0:02:52.063,0:02:53.270
on the beach,

0:02:53.270,0:02:54.711
waiting for the show to begin.

0:02:54.711,0:02:58.112
And we wore eclipse glasses[br]with cardboard frames

0:02:58.112,0:03:02.743
and really dark lenses that enabled us[br]to look at the sun safely.

0:03:03.313,0:03:07.572
And a total eclipse[br]begins as a partial eclipse,

0:03:07.572,0:03:11.273
as the moon very slowly[br]makes its way in front of the sun.

0:03:11.273,0:03:15.544
So first it looked like the sun[br]had a little notch in its edge,

0:03:15.544,0:03:18.743
and then that notch grew[br]larger and larger,

0:03:18.743,0:03:21.144
turning the sun into a crescent.

0:03:21.634,0:03:24.971
And it was all very interesting,[br]but I wouldn't say it was spectacular.

0:03:24.971,0:03:26.904
I mean, the day remained bright.

0:03:26.904,0:03:29.884
If I hadn't known[br]what was going on overhead,

0:03:29.884,0:03:32.923
I wouldn't have noticed anything unusual.

0:03:33.353,0:03:38.293
Well, about ten minutes before[br]the total solar eclipse was set to begin,

0:03:38.293,0:03:40.665
weird things started to happen.

0:03:41.255,0:03:43.774
A cool wind kicked up.

0:03:44.174,0:03:48.004
Daylight looked odd,[br]and shadows became very strange;

0:03:48.004,0:03:50.164
they looked bizarrely sharp,

0:03:50.164,0:03:54.224
as if someone had turned up[br]the contrast knob on TV.

0:03:55.144,0:03:59.004
And then I looked offshore,[br]and I noticed running lights on boats,

0:03:59.004,0:04:03.105
so clearly it was getting dark,[br]although I hadn't realized it.

0:04:03.105,0:04:05.404
Well soon, it was obvious[br]it was getting dark.

0:04:05.404,0:04:08.095
It felt like my eyesight was failing.

0:04:08.535,0:04:10.425
And then all of the sudden,

0:04:10.425,0:04:12.056
the lights went out.

0:04:13.156,0:04:14.975
Well, at that,

0:04:14.975,0:04:17.495
a cheer erupted from the beach,

0:04:17.495,0:04:19.247
and I took off my eclipse glasses,

0:04:19.247,0:04:22.064
because at this point[br]during the total eclipse,

0:04:22.064,0:04:25.695
it was safe to look at the sun[br]with the naked eye.

0:04:25.695,0:04:27.775
And I glanced upward,

0:04:29.365,0:04:32.976
and I was just dumbstruck.

0:04:34.966,0:04:39.596
Now, consider that, at this point,[br]I was in my mid-30s.

0:04:39.596,0:04:43.715
I had lived on Earth long enough

0:04:43.715,0:04:47.015
to know what the sky looks like.

0:04:47.015,0:04:48.096
I mean -

0:04:48.096,0:04:49.115
(Laughter)

0:04:49.115,0:04:52.415
I'd seen blue skies and grey skies,

0:04:52.415,0:04:56.345
and starry skies and angry skies,

0:04:56.345,0:04:59.167
and pink skies at sunrise.

0:04:59.167,0:05:02.828
But here was a sky I had never seen.

0:05:03.688,0:05:06.006
So first, there were the colors.

0:05:06.006,0:05:08.955
Up above, it was a deep purple-grey,

0:05:08.955,0:05:10.356
like twilight.

0:05:10.356,0:05:12.176
But on the horizon, it was orange,

0:05:12.176,0:05:13.397
like sunset,

0:05:13.397,0:05:15.427
360 degrees.

0:05:15.767,0:05:18.376
And up above, in the twilight,

0:05:18.376,0:05:20.858
bright stars and planets had come out.

0:05:20.858,0:05:22.487
So there was Jupiter,

0:05:22.487,0:05:24.177
and there was Mercury,

0:05:24.177,0:05:26.146
and there was Venus.

0:05:26.426,0:05:28.947
And they were all in a line.

0:05:29.867,0:05:33.248
And there, along this line,

0:05:33.698,0:05:35.807
was this thing,

0:05:35.807,0:05:39.335
this glorious, bewildering thing.

0:05:39.335,0:05:43.928
It looked like a wreath[br]woven from silvery thread,

0:05:43.928,0:05:48.309
and it just hung out there[br]in space, shimmering.

0:05:49.889,0:05:53.278
Now, that was the sun's outer atmosphere,

0:05:53.278,0:05:55.307
the solar corona.

0:05:55.307,0:05:57.749
And pictures just don't do it justice.

0:05:57.749,0:06:02.209
It's not just a ring or halo[br]around the sun;

0:06:02.209,0:06:06.489
it's finely textured,[br]like it's made out of strands of silk.

0:06:07.119,0:06:09.629
And although it looked[br]nothing like our sun,

0:06:09.629,0:06:11.808
of course, I knew that's what it was.

0:06:11.808,0:06:15.799
So there was the sun,[br]and there were the planets,

0:06:15.799,0:06:19.869
and I could see how the planets[br]revolve around the sun.

0:06:19.869,0:06:22.397
It's like I had left our solar system

0:06:22.397,0:06:27.558
and was standing on some alien world,[br]looking back at creation.

0:06:28.159,0:06:30.539
And for the first time in my life,

0:06:30.539,0:06:34.630
I just felt viscerally connected[br]to the universe

0:06:34.630,0:06:37.079
in all of its immensity.

0:06:37.459,0:06:39.519
Time stopped,

0:06:39.749,0:06:42.289
or it just kind of felt nonexistent,

0:06:42.289,0:06:45.450
and what I beheld with my eyes -

0:06:45.450,0:06:47.220
I didn't just see it,

0:06:47.770,0:06:49.799
it felt like a vision.

0:06:51.249,0:06:54.819
And I stood there in this nirvana

0:06:54.819,0:07:00.521
for all of 174 seconds -[br]less than three minutes -

0:07:00.521,0:07:02.979
when all of the sudden, it was over.

0:07:02.979,0:07:04.259
The sun burst out,

0:07:04.259,0:07:05.959
the blue sky returned,

0:07:05.959,0:07:09.141
the stars and the planets[br]and the corona were gone,

0:07:09.141,0:07:11.330
the world returned to normal.

0:07:11.820,0:07:14.298
But I had changed.

0:07:14.978,0:07:18.980
And that's how I became an umbraphile -

0:07:18.980,0:07:20.621
an eclipse chaser.

0:07:20.621,0:07:21.631
(Laughter)

0:07:21.631,0:07:26.130
And so, this is how I spend my time[br]and hard-earned money.

0:07:26.400,0:07:31.990
Every couple of years, I head off[br]to wherever the moon's shadow will fall

0:07:31.990,0:07:33.951
to experience another couple minutes

0:07:33.951,0:07:35.902
of cosmic bliss,

0:07:35.902,0:07:38.211
and to share the experience with others:

0:07:38.211,0:07:40.211
with friends in Australia,

0:07:40.211,0:07:42.791
with an entire city in Germany.

0:07:42.791,0:07:47.133
In 1999, in Munich,[br]I joined hundreds of thousands

0:07:47.133,0:07:49.742
who filled the streets and the rooftops,

0:07:49.742,0:07:54.382
and cheered in unison[br]as the solar corona emerged.

0:07:55.052,0:07:57.792
And over time, I've become something else:

0:07:57.792,0:08:00.492
an eclipse evangelist.

0:08:00.492,0:08:03.142
I see it as my job

0:08:03.142,0:08:08.252
to pay forward the advice[br]that I received all those years ago.

0:08:08.718,0:08:11.406
And so let me tell you:

0:08:11.946,0:08:14.135
Before you die,

0:08:14.135,0:08:19.227
you owe it to yourself[br]to experience a total solar eclipse.

0:08:19.227,0:08:23.548
It is the ultimate experience of awe.

0:08:24.178,0:08:28.646
Now, that word, "awesome,"[br]has grown so overused

0:08:28.646,0:08:30.967
that it's lost its original meaning.

0:08:30.967,0:08:35.507
True awe, a sense of wonder[br]and insignificance

0:08:35.507,0:08:38.007
in the face of something[br]enormous and grand,

0:08:38.007,0:08:39.997
is rare in our lives.

0:08:39.997,0:08:43.927
But when you experience it, it's powerful.

0:08:43.927,0:08:46.128
Awe dissolves the ego.

0:08:46.128,0:08:48.177
It makes us feel connected.

0:08:48.177,0:08:51.878
Indeed, it promotes[br]empathy and generosity.

0:08:52.228,0:08:57.498
Well, there is nothing truly more awesome[br]than a total solar eclipse.

0:08:57.848,0:09:00.279
Unfortunately, few Americans[br]have seen one,

0:09:00.279,0:09:02.487
because it's been 38 years

0:09:02.487,0:09:05.668
since one last touched[br]the continental United States,

0:09:05.668,0:09:10.519
and 99 years since one last crossed[br]the breadth of the nation.

0:09:10.519,0:09:13.089
But that is about to change.

0:09:13.089,0:09:16.129
Over the next 35 years,

0:09:16.129,0:09:20.558
five total solar eclipses will visit[br]the continental United States,

0:09:20.558,0:09:24.118
and three of them[br]will be especially grand.

0:09:24.438,0:09:29.469
Six weeks from now, on August 21st, 2017 -

0:09:29.469,0:09:32.000
(Applause)

0:09:32.000,0:09:36.608
the moon's shadow will race[br]from Oregon to South Carolina.

0:09:36.608,0:09:42.098
April 8th, 2024, the moon's shadow[br]heads north from Texas to Maine.

0:09:42.098,0:09:44.300
In 2045, on August 12th,

0:09:44.300,0:09:47.619
the path cuts from California to Florida.

0:09:48.829,0:09:50.369
I say:

0:09:51.039,0:09:53.659
What if we made these holidays?

0:09:53.659,0:09:54.840
What if we -

0:09:54.840,0:09:56.020
(Laughter)

0:09:56.020,0:09:57.050
(Applause)

0:09:57.050,0:09:58.350
(Cheers)

0:09:59.670,0:10:04.810
What if we all stood together,

0:10:04.810,0:10:06.769
as many people as possible,

0:10:06.769,0:10:08.580
in the shadow of the moon?

0:10:08.580,0:10:14.089
Just maybe, this shared experience of awe[br]would help heal our divisions,

0:10:14.089,0:10:17.850
get us to treat each other[br]just a bit more humanely.

0:10:18.300,0:10:24.190
Now, admittedly, some folks consider[br]my evangelizing a little out there;

0:10:24.190,0:10:27.420
my obsession, eccentric.

0:10:27.420,0:10:32.201
I mean, why focus so much attention[br]on something so brief?

0:10:32.201,0:10:35.940
Why cross the globe -[br]or state lines, for that matter -

0:10:35.940,0:10:39.720
for something that lasts three minutes?

0:10:40.610,0:10:42.239
As I said:

0:10:42.239,0:10:45.000
I am not a spiritual person.

0:10:45.420,0:10:47.992
I don't believe in God.

0:10:47.992,0:10:49.721
I wish I did.

0:10:50.211,0:10:53.300
But when I think of my own mortality -

0:10:53.300,0:10:55.650
and I do, a lot -

0:10:56.400,0:10:59.922
when I think of everyone I have lost,

0:10:59.922,0:11:02.372
my mother, in particular,

0:11:03.142,0:11:05.002
what soothes me

0:11:05.002,0:11:08.492
is that moment of awe I had in Aruba.

0:11:08.992,0:11:12.243
I picture myself on that beach,

0:11:12.243,0:11:14.182
looking at that sky,

0:11:14.432,0:11:17.174
and I remember how I felt.

0:11:18.134,0:11:21.302
My existence may be temporary,

0:11:21.302,0:11:23.853
but that's okay because, my gosh,

0:11:23.853,0:11:26.412
look at what I'm a part of.

0:11:27.562,0:11:29.653
And so this is a lesson I've learned,

0:11:29.653,0:11:32.702
and it's one that applies[br]to life in general:

0:11:33.162,0:11:37.652
Duration of experience[br]does not equal impact.

0:11:37.652,0:11:42.562
One weekend, one conversation -[br]hell, one glance -

0:11:42.902,0:11:44.802
can change everything.

0:11:45.782,0:11:49.362
Cherish those moments[br]of deep connection with other people,

0:11:49.362,0:11:52.623
with the natural world,[br]and make them a priority.

0:11:52.623,0:11:55.072
Yes, I chase eclipses.

0:11:55.072,0:11:57.052
You might chase something else.

0:11:57.052,0:12:00.914
But it's not about the 174 seconds.

0:12:01.694,0:12:06.244
It's about how they change[br]the years that come after.

0:12:06.543,0:12:07.634
Thank you.

0:12:07.634,0:12:10.015
(Applause)