--- title: Total Solar Eclipse Facts From Jeffrey Kluger's Reddit AMA description: TIME editor-at-large Jeffrey Kluger answered questions from space enthusiasts during a Reddit AMA. Here are four things we learned canonical: https://time.com/4905313/total-solar-eclipse-reddit-ama-jeff-kluger/ author: Mahita Gajanan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-08-17T20:56:49.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-08T09:29:38.805Z article:section: Science og:title: What We Learned About the Solar Eclipse From the Reddit AMA With TIME's Jeffrey Kluger og:description: He answered questions about the upcoming eclipse, space and science og:url: https://time.com/4905313/total-solar-eclipse-reddit-ama-jeff-kluger/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1b8d9c07f87cccd7/6988da2d656a3f9f4cbd154b/total-solar-eclipse-ama.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3456 og:image:height: 1944 og:image:alt: A view of the total solar eclipse captured from Donggala. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: What We Learned About the Solar Eclipse From the Reddit AMA With TIME's Jeffrey Kluger twitter:description: He answered questions about the upcoming eclipse, space and science twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1b8d9c07f87cccd7/6988da2d656a3f9f4cbd154b/total-solar-eclipse-ama.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 4 Solar Eclipse Facts We Learned From the Reddit AMA With TIME's Jeffrey Kluger > Sponsored content. 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Future Proof is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-futureproof-2026q3/newsletters?i=2cd2a443-10ee-4ef9-a250-db0b37182a4d&cr=time-nl-futureproof-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Why Seeing A Total Solar Eclipse Is So Rare [Watch (HLS stream): Why Seeing A Total Solar Eclipse Is So Rare](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/X6t8RKE9.m3u8) (1:28)  _Published 2017-06-29. TIME's Jeff Kluger explains the phenomenon of a total solar eclipse._ by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Aug 17, 2017 8:56 PM UTC TIME's Jeff Kluger explains the phenomenon of a total solar eclipse. by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Aug 17, 2017 8:56 PM UTC Ahead of the highly anticipated [total solar eclipse](http://time.com/4897581/total-solar-eclipse-years-next/) that will cross the sky in the U.S. from coast to coast on Aug. 21, 2017, TIME editor-at-large [Jeffrey Kluger](http://time.com/4899660/solar-eclipse-reddit-ama-jeffrey-kluger/) answered questions from space enthusiasts during a [Reddit AMA](https://www.reddit.com/r/space/comments/6uac0o/im%5Fjeffrey%5Fkluger%5Feditor%5Fat%5Flarge%5Ffor%5Ftime%5Fand/?sort=confidence). Kluger, who has written about space and science for TIME for more than 20 years, answered questions about the [upcoming eclipse](http://time.com/4834676/total-solar-eclipse-2017-rare/), space, science and his career during an hourlong Reddit AMA on Thursday. Here are four things we learned from the session. ## When is it OK to look at the total solar eclipse? “Basically: don’t look at the sun before totality without proper [protective glasses,](http://time.com/4898224/solar-eclipse-glasses-where-buy/)” Kluger advised. “Do look without glasses during totality but put them back on the second even the tiniest part of the sun reappears.” ## How can you get kids interested in the solar eclipse? “If you’re with kids tell them about [Baily’s Beads](https://eclipse2017.nasa.gov/bailys-beads-effect),” Kluger wrote, “the points of light at the last seconds before totality that are the result of the sun streaming through the mountains of the moon.” ## Why are total solar eclipses even possible? “There is no limit to my favorite space facts,” Kluger said on Reddit, “but one of them involves the eclipse: the fact that a perfect total eclipse should not be possible since the sun is 400 times bigger than the moon so there is no way for the coverage to be complete. But the sun is also 400 times farther away, so the disks appear the same size.” ## Why are humans so fascinated by the total solar eclipse? “I think it’s because we’re running cognitive software that was laid down hundreds of thousands of years ago,” Kluger said, “and what we learned back then was that the planet works in certain ways — light during the day, dark at night, phases of the moon come in a particular sequence — and then Boom! One day it all goes screwy. No matter how sophisticated we get, \[t\]hat rattles us.” Check out the full Reddit AMA [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/space/comments/6uac0o/im%5Fjeffrey%5Fkluger%5Feditor%5Fat%5Flarge%5Ffor%5Ftime%5Fand/?sort=confidence). ## Transcript [00:01] Total solar eclipses occur when the moon passes [00:03] directly between the Earth and the sun, blocking solar [00:06] light. They're exceedingly rare. The last one to touch [00:10] the US was in 1979. On average, they happen [00:14] where you live once every 375 years. The [00:20] sun is about 400 times larger than the moon, but the [00:23] sun is also 400 times farther away so the two bodies [00:27] appear about the same size to us on Earth. The moon [00:31] orbits the Earth once each month, so why doesn't the [00:34] moon shadow the Earth causing an eclipse with each [00:37] pass? Partly because the moon's orbit [00:41] is tilted slightly, which causes its shadow to miss the [00:44] Earth most of the time. Another reason [00:49] is if a moon's orbit is elliptical. For much of its orbit [00:53] the moon is farther away from Earth and appears too [00:55] small to block out the sun completely Those eclipses [00:59] are called annular. Only when the eclipse occurs at the [01:02] moon's closest approach is a visible total eclipse [01:05] possible even then the narrow band of totality usually [01:09] tracks over water or away from population centers [01:13] that's why this total solar eclipse is so special. As it [01:17] cuts a path of darkness across the US this August 21st, [01:20] it could be the most viewed total eclipse in history, and [01:24] for many the experience of a lifetime ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4905313/total-solar-eclipse-reddit-ama-jeff-kluger/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4905313/total-solar-eclipse-reddit-ama-jeff-kluger/"},"headline":"4 Solar Eclipse Facts We Learned From the Reddit AMA With TIME's Jeffrey Kluger","datePublished":"2017-08-17T20:56:49.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-08T09:29:38.805Z","description":"He answered questions about the upcoming eclipse, space and science","url":"https://time.com/4905313/total-solar-eclipse-reddit-ama-jeff-kluger/","keywords":["Eclipse","onetime","space 2017"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1b8d9c07f87cccd7/6988da2d656a3f9f4cbd154b/total-solar-eclipse-ama.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Mahita Gajanan","jobTitle":"Gajanan is an editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1b8d9c07f87cccd7/6988da2d656a3f9f4cbd154b/total-solar-eclipse-ama.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"A view of the total solar eclipse captured from Donggala.","caption":"A view of the total solar eclipse captured from Donggala.","creditText":"Pacific Press—LightRocket via Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/tag/eclipse/","name":"Eclipse"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4905313/total-solar-eclipse-reddit-ama-jeff-kluger/","name":"4 Solar Eclipse Facts We Learned From the Reddit AMA With TIME's Jeffrey Kluger"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Why Seeing A Total Solar Eclipse Is So Rare","description":"TIME's Jeff Kluger explains the phenomenon of a total solar eclipse.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/X6t8RKE9/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2017-06-29T21:57:11.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/X6t8RKE9.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4905313/total-solar-eclipse-reddit-ama-jeff-kluger/","duration":"PT1M28S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4905313/total-solar-eclipse-reddit-ama-jeff-kluger/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```