Solar Eclipse Special Coverage: Hour 2

Listen to hour one of special eclipse coverage here.

In hour two of special eclipse coverage, we pick up the chase by talking with a reporter on the scene as totality reaches Parkville, Missouri. Also, NPR's Geoff Brumfiel (@gbrumfiel) and Joe Palca (@joesbigidea) take a moment to catch us up on the science of eclipses, what's happened so far and what's to come.

And it's a big day for the nation's top scientists. We speak with NASA's Jim Green from Idaho to learn what he and his colleagues have seen and how it adds to the scientific body of knowledge.

As totality moves through Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee, Sky & Telescope magazine's Kelly Beatty (@NightSkyGuy) joins us from Hopkinsville, Kentucky, which will be the point of greatest eclipse — the area that will experience the longest period of darkness and sport the best views of the solar corona.

Columbia, South Carolina, will go dark at around 2:40 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, and by then the eclipse will be nearly done making its way across North America. WUNC's Jason deBruyn (@jasondebruyn) and Laura Hunsberger of South Carolina Public Radio join us with more.

As the eclipse becomes history in the United States, we'll check in with Bryan Brewer (@eclipsebook2017), an author who has written about the history of past eclipses. And, as promised, Ron Rash delivers his poem written while watching the drama unfold in South Carolina, and reflects on the experience.