1st total solar eclipse in 99 years to sweep America

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Here’s how to avoid wrecking your car during the eclipse
Be prepared for ‘one of the largest driver distractions in years’
The last time a total solar eclipse crossed the US coast to coast, there were only 6.2 million registered motor vehicles in the entire country, according to the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). Automobiles were still a relatively new fad in 1918, so when the Sun, Earth, and Moon found themselves in alignment that year, the chances of dying in an eclipse-related auto accident was statistically pretty low.

That’s not so for this year’s total solar eclipse, which is set to occur on August 21st. This may explain why federal transportation officials are so alarmed: there were 263.6 million registered vehicles in the US in 2015, and probably a few million more today. More drivers during an eclipse means more chances for distraction, which means more fender benders, or worse. In 2016, traffic fatalities in the US increased 6 percent from the previous year, to 40,200. The two-year increase — 14 percent from 2014 to 2016 — was the largest in more than half a century.
https://www.theverge.com/2017/8/17/16118824/total-solar-eclipse-2017-driver-distraction-car-accident
 
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How to photograph the solar eclipse without damaging your camera
Darkness is coming.

At least, partial darkness, depending on where you live.

On Monday, August 21, people across the US will have the chance to see a total or partialeclipse. Only those in a 70 mile band will see the sun fully blackened out by the moon, but most of us will at least see some of what was once thought of as a celestial dragon devouring the sun.
http://www.businessinsider.com/solar-eclipse-2017-how-to-take-photos-of-the-eclipse-2017-8

 
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Will The Eclipse Make Crops And Animals Flip Out? Scientists Ask (Really)
On Aug. 21, a 70-mile-wide ribbon from Oregon to South Carolina called the "path of totality" will experience a total solar eclipse. Large swaths of farmland in the Great Plains and Midwest will be plunged into darkness for 2 1/2 minutes, and temperatures will drop about 10 degrees in the middle of the day.

But as millions of people look up at the sky, many Midwest scientists will turn their eyes and cameras toward the plants and animals on the ground. And they're not sure what will happen.

"It's never really been studied systematically," says Angela Speck, director of astronomy at the University of Missouri, Columbia.
http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt...ps-and-animals-flip-out-scientists-ask-really
 
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