CBS News is springing into action across the path of totality for the momentous event with a full day of coverage beginning with “CBS This Morning” and continuing throughout “The CBS Evening News.” All-day coverage will also be streamed on CBSN, CBS News radio and the CBS Newspath satellite newsgathering service.
The Eye’s coverage will feature a team of correspondents reporting from across the country, including Evening News anchor Anthony Mason, CBS News space consultant Bill Harwood and CBS News correspondent Adriana Diaz in Carbondale, Illinois, the closest city to the point of greatest duration of the eclipse; CBS News correspondents David Begnaud in Nashville, Tennessee; Jeff Glor in Jackson Hole, Wyoming; Mark Strassmann in Charleston, South Carolina; and Jamie Yuccas in Madras, Oregon.
CBS News will also tap its network of affiliate stations to report on spectator experiences and viewing parties across the swatch of totality, which stretches from Oregon to South Carolina.
Mason will anchor a two-hour special report from 1 p.m.-3 p.m. ET (10 a.m.-noon Pacific) called “Solar Eclipse 08.21.17” from Carbondale, joined by astronaut Scott Kelly, astronomer Michelle Nichols, planetary radio host Mat Kaplan, physicist Bob Baer, Bill Harwood, astronomer Derrick Pitts and a team of CBS News correspondents.
Outside of the path of totality, spanning about 70 miles wide and moving eastward across the country, skywatchers will see a partial solar eclipse, in which the moon passes between the earth and the sun and appears to take a bite out of the sun’s blazing, fiery disk. In the Los Angeles area, for example, residents will see approximately 62% of the sun covered by the moon.
In the path of totality, the moon appears to completely cover the sun and darkness descends upon the day. Some observers of past such occurrences have said it brings tears to people’s eyes and is an incredible and unforgettable experience.
Experts warn that although it is safe to look at a total eclipse – which lasts for about two to three minutes in any given area – with unprotected eyes, special glasses must be donned for the rest of the dance between the moon and sun.
