“In one strike, Russia could render America dark and stop our ability to prevent a strike that could take Washington, D.C., and most other cities off the map,” writes Gen. John Hyten and Maj Gen. Roger Teague in The Hill.

Teague explained the threat on NewsNation’s “Reality Check.”

They say Russia has gone so far as to test a weapon on one of its own defunct satellites in 2021. That blast polluted the area with debris that will last for decades. “It is a stark reminder that U.S. space capabilities are in Russian crosshairs,” they write.

To counter the Russian and Chinese moves, U.S. space leaders have long called for an upgrade of what’s known as the Satellite Control Network. They say, that if we don’t do that soon, the U.S. faces a very real threat of being unable to defend itself in the event of an international confrontation.

The U.S. intelligence community has been alive with hints that Russia is secretly developing what is feared to be a nuclear-powered anti-satellite weapon. Russia denied it and accused the U.S. of doing the very same thing.  

The U.S. did explode a massive nuclear weapon in space in the early 1960s, and the blast knocked out electricity and communications systems 1,000 miles away in Hawaii.

In 1967, the U.S., the Soviet Union and more than 100 other countries signed The Outer Space Treaty, which forbids countries from deploying nuclear or other weapons of mass destruction into space. The recent actions by Russia led to fears that it was ready to break that treaty.

The cost to counter our adversaries will be high, but the cost of inaction would be beyond enormous. Everything we do online relies on satellite technology, and experts say we must make sure those systems are protected.

The Eta Aquariid meteor shower is caused by debris from Halley’s Comet, according to Space.com.

At its peak, the shower could produce up to 50 meteors per hour, the site says.

The meteor shower happens every year, but what makes this one extra special is the timing of its peak with the new moon.

That means the skies will be extra dark just before dawn.

When to watch

The shower is already underway; it started in mid-April.

But the peak is coming this weekend.

Eta Aquariids peaks on May 4^th and 5^th, Saturday and Sunday.

The best time to see them is an hour or two before dawn.

The shower continues through May 27.

The Eta Aquariids will give a better show for people in the Southern Hemisphere, but in the Northern Hemisphere, you can still see them.

The Eta Aquariids often appear at the horizon, which gives the meteors the nickname, “Earthgrazers.”

NASA says the meteors can be extra long and bright.

Will we see it in Northeast Ohio?

As is often the concern with any celestial site in Northeast Ohio – will the weather cooperate?

Storm chances move in on Friday night.

Based on the FOX 8 Weather forecast, the best time to see them will be early Monday morning.

The Eta Aquariid meteor shower is caused by debris from Halley’s Comet, according to Space.com. We have a chance to see the Eta Aquariid meteors every May as Earth crosses through the orbit of Halley's Comet.

This year, the shower is expected to be extra special as it reaches peak as we have a new moon, NASA explains.

That means the skies will be extra dark just before dawn.

In the Southern Hemisphere, NASA says viewers could see as many as 40 meteors an hour. For those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, however, we can expect 10 to 20 an hour.

When to watch the Eta Aquariid meteor shower

The shower is already underway (it started in mid-April) but is expected to peak over the weekend on May 4 and 5.

The best time to see the meteors, which can appear extra long and bright, is an hour or two before dawn, NASA explains. The Eta Aquariids meteors often appear at the horizon, giving them the nickname “Earthgrazers.”

For the best viewing, NASA recommends looking straight skyward while lying on the ground with your feet toward the east.

Researchers say this year's Eta Aquariid meteor shower could be the best we see this entire century. You have until May 27 to take it in.

Earth will cross through the Halley's Comet orbit again in October, giving us the chance to see the Orionid meteor shower.

The more secrecy surrounding Area 51, the more insatiable the public's appetite for information on the secret Nevada base becomes. Take, for example, the dual raids on homes owned by an Area 51 watchdog 16 months ago, which has since roused the public's curiosity and has many asking what is flying around out there.

"[If] they don't want you to see it, you're not going to see it," said Joerg Arnu, creator of dreamlandresort.com, a digital gathering place for aerospace enthusiasts, aviation watchers, and some who have worked at the best-known secret base in the world. "They have years and years and decades of experience hiding things."

Arnu, a naturalized US citizen, caught Area 51 fever over two and a half decades ago, and his website has been a place for users to swap stories, post photos, and make educated guesses about what's happening in the Nevada desert for 20 years.

The world knows about the past projects born at the Groom Lake facility, including the U2 spy plane, early versions of the Blackbirds, the F-117 Nighthawks, and stealth helicopters. However, readers of dreamlandresort.com often get hints about objects currently zipping through the skies. Users believe there are big secrets that can and are being kept.

"Look at some of the exotic planes, like the Tacit Blue that was developed in total secrecy, was flown in secrecy, then all of a sudden, they put it in a museum and said, yeah, we had this for a while," Arnu said.

Too much secrecy, however, can sometimes backfire. Area 51 was obscure and largely unknown in the 1980s when the Air Force illegally seized 89,000 acres of public land around the base to hide something. In 1989, 8 News Now put the base on the map with allegations that alien technology was stashed in the Nevada desert base. The designation for Area 51 suddenly disappeared from maps, and the government stopped acknowledging that it existed. That secrecy only fueled more public interest. Since then, tens of thousands of people have made the trek to the desert to check it out.

In the early 2000s, Chuck Clark, an Area 51 watchdog, revealed that the US military had hidden sensors on public land, miles outside the base's boundaries, meant to warn of anyone approaching. The Joint Terrorism Task Force then raided Clark's home in Rachel.

It was a harbinger of events to come decades later when federal agents targeted Joerg Arnu's homes in Rachel and Las Vegas. That 2022 raid saw Arnu and his girlfriend Linda Hellow held at gunpoint, presumably for something that appeared on dreamlandresort.com. However, no one has told Arnu what content crossed that line. He said agents treated him like a hardened criminal or a terrorist, even suspecting, apparently, that Arnu may have had his own security.

"When they came in here, they asked me, 'Are there booby traps' in my homes," Arnu said.

For his part, Arnu said he agreed that the US military needs a location to test secret technology. When 2 million people committed to storming Area 51 in 2019, he opposed the event. However, he said when he sees things from publicly accessible lands, he takes note, adding that the recently unveiled B-21 Raider had some of its systems tested in Nevada skies long before the public knew it existed. Arnu said he believes rumors of an SR-71 spy place successor are likely true, though he is unsure if the new version is called SR-72. 

Drones, unmanned warplanes, and jamming technologies are the future of warfare being tested at Area 51 in 2024, Arnu suspects.

"They are flying drones, obviously," Arnu said. "The Russians and Chinese work on stuff to jam our drones, we work on stuff to jam their drones. The next step is how do we make drone communications more secure."

According to Arnu, the public is unlikely to see much of the upcoming tech as Area 51 has established an Area 51 of its own in a secluded area, situated to the north of Groom Lake, which is only visible to those with their own satellite.

"The really secret stuff [...] they have a whole empty valley just north of Groom Lake, and they have the mountain range where they can pretty much play with anything they want," Arnu said. "It's booming out there. Area 51 is not going anywhere."

The creator of a website collecting information on all things Area 51 believes the most enigmatic activities taking place there occur inside a secret base tucked inside the secret base.

Angel Kenmore, 17, says he saw a cross float in the air and the pages of a Bible flip over in a room with no breeze. Now, Kenmore says he really wants to move.

Nearly a year ago, the Kenmore family called police to report strange 10-foot-tall creatures in their backyard. Now, they claim to be experiencing even stranger events.

'Floating' upside-down crucifix

Kenmore said he and his brother saw a cross from which the figure of Jesus had been ripped off.

“There was an upside-down cross, and it was floating upside-down," Kenmore said. "I was just standing there. It was crazy. We got closer to it and it dropped.”

NewsNation correspondent Alex Caprariello pressed Kenmore on the incident.

“And you can say, definitively, without lies, that that is what you saw?”

“Yes, swear to God, that's what I saw,” he answered.

Unexplained Bible activity

The other incident involved a Bible that sat on a table, its pages steadily turning with no help and no breeze.

“Flippin’ the pages, but it wasn’t (from) the air. It was steady like somebody was holding it,” Kenmore said.

Kenmore called it another sign of a demonic presence in the house.

“We had a couple of priests come over to the house, they’re saying that it might be fallen angels,” he explained.

Kenmore believes there is a connection between the creatures he reported in his family's backyard last year and the phenomena inside the house. Although, he isn't too sure now that the creatures were extraterrestrial, but rather demonic presences.

“How does that make you feel about living here, still,” asked Caprariello.

“Not too good,” Kenmore said. “I was pretty scared. Traumatized. Not a good experience."

The whole family intends to move away from the house as soon as possible.

Original reports from April 30, 2023

The Kenmore family still doesn't have any solid explanation for the strange things allegedly happening inside and outside their home.

Last year, Kenmore claimed he saw a “giant creature” that he believes may have been a “demon.” He said he felt paralyzed after looking at the entity for about 30 seconds. He remembers closing his eyes and praying for it to go away.

“It was moving and breathing. It was pissed off like it wanted to do something looking at me. I remember he was growling,” Kenmore said.

The Kenmore family contacted the police, sharing their unexplainable encounter.

Despite receiving numerous threats, Kenmore and the rest of his family have stood by their original report from April 30, 2023.

A neighbor told NewsNation that he remembers the night that the creatures allegedly visited the Kenmore's backyard. He said his TV and surveillance cameras stopped working at that same time.

Body camera footage from Metro Las Vegas Police shows a flash across the sky the night of the family’s sighting, adding intrigue to the mystery, NewsNation local affiliate KLAS reported. However, the police department would not make the officers who responded to the call that night available for an interview.

The American Meteor Society says it is sure it was a meteor that caused that streak in the night sky, with 21 reported sightings of it stretching across California, Nevada and Utah.

Claims of a UFO, aliens and military activity have all been viewed in a different light since Pentagon whistleblower David Grusch, in an interview with NewsNation, alleged a covert crash retrieval program of nonhuman spacecraft.

NewsNation's Liz Jassin and Devan Markham contributed to this report.

"The first thing I did was email the FAA to let them know what I saw. Maybe it was a safety hazard, but unfortunately, they didn't acknowledge my email," Reyes said during an appearance Wednesday night on "Banfield."

Ben Hansen, a UFO investigator, joined the conversation on "Banfield" to analyze the video.

"We've found no evidence that she (Reyes) faked this or hoaxed it. ... It's there. It's very clear, which is unusual."

Reyes shared the video onto her social media, and another passenger apparently saw the object, as well.

"It's a little nerve-wracking that someone else saw what I saw."

Angel Kenmore, 17, said in an exclusive interview with NewsNation national correspondent Alex Caprariello that he saw a "giant creature" who he believes may have been a "demon" but "only God knows."

Kenmore said he felt paralyzed after looking at the entity for about 30 seconds. He remembers closing his eyes and praying for it to go away.

"It was moving and breathing. It was pissed off, like it wanted to do something looking at me. I remember he was growling," Kenmore said.

Despite receiving numerous threats, Kenmore and the rest of his family have stood by their original report from April 30. 2023,

"They can think whatever they want," Kenmore told NewsNation. "If I was doing it for fame, I would be on YouTube. I made no money off this. I don't need money. It was a really bad and traumatizing experience."

Police body camera footage from the Metro Las Vegas police footage shows a flash across the sky the night of the family's sighting, adding intrigue to the mystery, NewsNation local affiliate KLAS reported.

The American Meteor Society says they are sure it was a meteor that caused that streak in the night sky, with 21 reported sightings of it stretching across California, Nevada and Utah.

"We’re certain it was a meteor because of the duration of the event," said Robert Lunsford, of the American Meteor Society. "Most everybody reported it lasted between two and five seconds, and that’s much too fast to be a reentering satellite or a rocket."

Claims of a UFO, aliens and military activity have all been viewed in a different light since Pentagon whistleblower Dave Grusch, in an interview with NewsNation, alleged a covert crash retrieval program of nonhuman spacecraft.

The probe is the first human-made object to have left the solar system, and engineers managed to do long-distance troubleshooting over more than 15 billion miles to partially restore the probe's 1970s-era computer.

A team with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory recoded part of the memory on the craft's Flight Data Subsystem to try to solve the problem that began in November 2023, when the probe stopped sending data about the craft's health and measurements from scientific instruments, instead delivering an unintelligible stream of data.

It takes more than 22 hours for a radio signal to cover the distance between Earth and Voyager 1, which is still flying on an outbound trajectory in interstellar space, so it took two days for engineers to send the command and get a response back.

The fix means the FDS is now sending back engineering data on Voyager 1's status, including information like power signals. According to scientists, the probe is still in good shape as it was before the glitch.

Scientists believe a chip that stored part of the FDS memory stopped working, either because of a cosmic ray hit or because it simply failed due to age, which affected some of the code.

There's still more work to be done to get Voyager 1 back completely and once again get scientific data from the probe. Because of Voyager 1's age, much of the code and documentation is still on paper and hasn't been digitized, meaning it still could take weeks to get through the next steps.

Voyager 1 has long completed its initial mission to fly by Jupiter and Saturn in 1979 and 1980 before heading to the edge of the solar system. It and twin probe Voyager 2 are the only probes flying in interstellar space, and NASA has been using them to study cosmic rays, the magnetic field and the plasma environment.

While any data collected since the probe began experiencing issues in November has been lost, NASA scientists are eager to get new data flowing back again and continue to learn more about what space is like beyond our solar system.

The findings, published in the journal Science, could provide a window into the intense volcanic activity that shaped early Earth billions of years ago.

Io is the most volcanically active body in the solar system, with hundreds of lava-spewing volcanoes continuously resurfacing the moon. By studying sulfur emissions from Io's volcanoes, scientists calculated the moon has lost 94-99% of its original sulfur over eons of eruptions.

Io's volcanoes are being replenished at a rapid rate of around 1 ton per second, according to Katherine de Kleer, a planetary scientist at Caltech and study co-author. The loss of lighter sulfur isotopes skews the remaining sulfur heavier over time.

Based on the rate of sulfur loss, the researchers estimate Io's extreme volcanism has persisted for most of the solar system's 4.6 billion-year existence. This runny, high-temperature lava may mimic conditions on ancient Earth when colossal volcanic events resurfaced large regions rapidly.

The findings also suggest Io's orbital interactions with neighboring moons Europa and Ganymede have provided a continuous heat source to drive the volcanism over billions of years. This boosts the possibility that the ocean world Europa experienced enough internal heating to make it habitable for life.

“The results reveal that further exploration of Io would help us uncover the unknown histories of other volcanic worlds, including our own planet," said Jani Radebaugh, a planetary geologist at Brigham Young University.

The Lyrids peak Sunday night on April 21 and last through dawn on April 22.

With a full moon coming this week, it may be hard to see the meteor shower clearly.

The Lyrids began April 15 and runs through April 29, according to EarthSky.

The Lyrids are said to be one of the oldest known Metroid showers. Astronomers say the first reported sighting dates to 687 BC.

The Lyrid meteor shower is debris from the comet Thatcher.

When rocks from space enter Earth’s atmosphere, the resistance from the air makes them very hot. This causes the air to glow around them and briefly leaves a fiery tail behind them — the end of a “shooting star.”

According to NASA, here’s the best way to see a meteor shower:

• Pick an area well away from city lights or street lights.
• Bring a sleeping bag, blanket, or lawn chair.
• Lie flat on your back with your feet facing east and look up.
• Be patient. About 30 minutes in the dark your eyes should adapt and you should begin to see meteors.

The next meteor shower peaks in early May. Debris from Halley’s comet make up the Eta Aquarids.

Following the April 8 total solar eclipse, the moon is once again the star of the show as it peaks this week.

The April full moon peaks Tuesday, April 23, at 7:49 p.m. EDT. The moon, dubbed the Pink Moon, will appear full for about three days, from Monday morning (which is Earth Day) to Thursday morning. 

The Pink Moon is named after the herb moss pink, a plant native to the eastern U.S. and one of the earliest widespread flowers of spring, according to NASA. Other names for this moon include the Sprouting Grass Moon, Egg Moon, Fish Moon, the Pesach or Passover Moon, the Hanuman Jayanti Festival Moon, and Bak Poya.

Planets visible alongside April's full moon

On Tuesday evening, while the moon is at its fullest, Jupiter will be visible just above the west-northwestern horizon, and will remain visible to the naked eye through April 29, NASA says.

Tuesday morning, Mars and Saturn will be visible just above the eastern horizon. Shortly after twilight begins, Mercury will appear — it will, however, be faint, NASA explains.

Lyrids meteor shower

Since the moon will be full and bright this week, it is expected to outshine the annual Lyrids meteor shower, which peaks April 21-22.

Because of the light from the full moon, only a few of the brightest shooting stars will be visible per hour this year, NASA says.

Usually, the Lyrids produce fast and bright meteors, with roughly 10 to 20 visible every hour. At best, the Lyrids can shine with up to 100 meteors per hour. NASA doesn't expect this year's shower to be as strong.

Those looking upward can expect dawn to be the best viewing time to catch the meteor shower when the moon is at its lowest.

The Lyrids meteor shower is one of the oldest known meteor showers, having been observed for 2,700 years. 

NASA says meteors come from leftover comet particles and bits from broken asteroids. The pieces of space debris that interact with our atmosphere that create the Lyrids originate from comet C/1861 G1 Thatcher, discovered in 1861.

The next full moon will peak on Thursday, May 23.

NASA reported earlier this year that a star system, some 3,000 light-years away from us, will erupt, making it appear as if a "new" star has formed near the constellation Hercules. 

Technically, the star — T Coronae Borealis, or T CrB — isn’t newly formed. In fact, the last time it became bright enough for us to see with the naked eye was in 1946. Roughly every 79 years, T CrB experiences an explosive event, Bill Cooke, NASA’s Meteoroid Environments Office Lead at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, told Nexstar via email. 

What is T CrB?

T CrB, sometimes known as the Blaze Star, “is one of 10 recurring novae in the galaxy,” he added. 

“Novae (the plural of nova) are binary star systems consisting of a normal or red giant star and a white dwarf about the size of the Earth,” Cooke explained. “The larger star is dumping material onto the surface of its white dwarf companion; as material accumulates, the temperature keeps rising until a thermonuclear runaway is initiated.”

Tracking a star from this far away (remember, it’s roughly 3,000 light-years into space) can be difficult, but astronomers have a general idea of when T CrB will “go nova.”

When will we see this "new star?"

According to Cooke, just over a year before T CrB’s 1946 explosion, the star got dimmer. It then rapidly got brighter. Astronomers noted that T CrB started dimming in March 2023, causing many to forecast that the star will explode sometime between now and September.

“But the uncertainty as to when this will happen is several months or even a year or so – can’t do better than that with what we know now,” Cooke said.

Where will it appear, and what will it look like?

When it does reach nova status, T CrB will look like a “new star” to us on Earth (nova comes from the Latin for “new star”), shimmering in the constellation of Corona Borealis, or “The Northern Crown.”

You’ll find Corona Borealis between the constellations of Hercules and Boötes, located toward the north. More specifically, according to the guide below from NASA, it’ll be roughly in line with Vega and Arcturus. 

Cooke said T CrB will be as bright as the North Star, meaning it’ll be visible to the naked eye — but only for about a week. With the exception of those in Antarctica, everyone should be able to get a glimpse of the nova. 

The last time skywatchers had a chance to see a nova like this was nearly 50 years ago, when Nova Cygni shimmered in 1975. As for now, T CrB hasn’t yet reached its peak, though NASA has ground-based telescopes keeping an eye on it.

When you are finally able to see it, just remember — as NPR notes, the explosion we’re seeing really happened 3,000 years ago.

A cargo pallet was released from the space station in March 2021. It was filled with aging batteries. When released, it was supposed to burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere without any harm, but a piece didn't burn and eventually landed in a house in Naples.

NASA said the object that hit the Florida house on March 8, 2023, weighed 1.6 pounds.

CBS News affiliate WINK News first reported on the incident and interviewed Alejandro Otero, who lives in the house where the object crashed through the ceiling.

“It was a tremendous sound. It almost hit my son," he told the outlet. "He was two rooms over and heard it all."

Otero said he wasn't home when the crash occurred, but the incident shook the entire family. 

“I was shaking. I was completely in disbelief," Otero said. "What are the chances of something landing on my house with such force to cause so much damage? I’m super grateful that nobody got hurt.”

The piece was cylindrical in shape, and it was 1.6-inches wide and around 4 inches tall. NASA examined and confirmed the purpose of the object at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. 

“Based on the examination, the agency determined the debris to be a stanchion from the NASA flight support equipment used to mount the batteries on the cargo pallet,” NASA said Monday. 

NASA said the International Space Station will perform a probe to find out why the debris survived when dropping through the Earth’s atmosphere. 

“NASA specialists use engineering models to estimate how objects heat up and break apart during atmospheric re-entry,” NASA said Monday. “These models require detailed input parameters and are regularly updated when debris is found to have survived atmospheric re-entry to the ground.”

The 2024 solar eclipse is expected to be an economic boon for areas in the path of totality as tourists flock to towns across America to view the phenomenon. The next solar eclipse visible from North America won't be until 2044, making this a rare opportunity.

For those viewing in person, don't forget your eclipse glasses and be on the lookout for fakes. For those outside the path of totality, NewsNation will be following the eclipse in the path across the U.S.

States and cities have been preparing for an influx of people visiting the path of totality, and that fascination is nothing new.

NewsNation will present special live coverage throughout Monday on air and online. Find your channel here. Keep up with our live online coverage here.

What is a total solar eclipse?

A total solar eclipse happens when the moon lines up perfectly between the Earth and the sun, blotting out sunlight. The day will turn into night when the moon blocks the sun for a few minutes.

The path of total darkness is expected to stretch from Mexico and Texas through Maine and parts of Canada.

Other than its occurrence in North America, the eclipse somewhat exciting for at least a couple of major reasons.

For starters, the 2024 eclipse has a wider path of totality than the last total solar eclipse visible from the U.S. in 2017 and passes over a more populated swath, with approximately 31.6 million people being in the path of totality compared to the 12 million who were along the path in 2017, according to NASA.

The duration of the eclipse is also almost two minutes longer than it was in 2017, giving viewers a better chance to see the sun’s corona — which itself may be more active than it was in 2017 thanks to the current period of heightened solar activity.

When will the eclipse reach totality?

While the exact time the solar eclipse will occur will vary depending on one's location and time zone, NASA shared a rough viewing time estimate of the event according to major cities on the path of totality. These cities will also experience a partial eclipse before and after these times, NASA said.

• Dallas, Texas: 1:40-1:44 p.m. CDT
• Idabel, Oklahoma: 1:45-1:49 p.m. CDT
• Little Rock, Arkansas: 1:51-1:54 p.m. CDT
• Poplar Bluff, Missouri: 1:56-2:00 p.m. CDT
• Paducah, Kentucky: 2-2:02 p.m. CDT
• Carbondale, Illinois: 1:59-2:03 p.m. CDT
• Evansville, Indiana: 2:02-2:05 p.m. CDT
• Cleveland, Ohio: 3:13-3:17 p.m. EDT
• Erie, Pennsylvania: 3:16-3:20 p.m. EDT
• Buffalo, New York: 3:18-3:22 p.m. EDT
• Burlington, Vermont: 3:26-3:29 p.m. EDT
• Lancaster, New Hampshire: 3:27-3:30 p.m. EDT
• Caribou, Maine: 3:32-3:34 p.m. EDT

How does the weather impact your experience?

Clouds are forecast for much of the eclipse route through the U.S. with some possible patches of clear skies in some spots, according to the latest forecast from the National Weather Service.

If you’re in Vermont, Maine and Canada, you’re in luck. But for the rest of those in the path of the total solar eclipse, it could be dicey weather-wise.

Texas is likely to have the heaviest cloud cover. More concerning, the weather service is forecasting severe weather — tornadoes and hail — about the time of the eclipse for parts of Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana.

Dicey weather could impact the chances of viewing the natural phenomenon. However, in the event of cloudy skies or rain, you can still watch the total solar eclipse online.

Northern New England into Canada is still the best bet to witness the eclipse.

What if you're out of the totality path?

If you don’t live within the path of totality, you still have a chance to see the moon partially block out the sun — especially in states along the eclipse's course.

This may bring you to another question — if you are outside the path of totality, do you actually need to wear those special eclipse glasses everyone is talking about? You’re not in the golden region of the solar eclipse, so does it matter? 

The short answer is yes, if you’re outside the path of totality, you’re going to want to wear eye protection before observing the eclipse. In fact, only those shrouded in the path of totality can go without eclipse glasses (but not the entire time). 

When do you need to wear glasses?

In or out of the path of totality, you’ll need to wear (or use on your camera, binoculars, or telescope) solar filters to protect your eyes. 

Those within a certain area will see the sun totally blocked, while for those outside that path, the sun will look like a sliver.

The eclipse itself will last several minutes. Experts have warned that everyone viewing the solar eclipse should wear proper eye protection before looking skyward.

For those in the path of totality, the eye protection can come off for two to four minutes when the moon completely blocks the sun. But, as soon as the smallest sliver of the sun reappears, the eye protection needs to go back on. 

You’ve likely been warned before not to stare at the sun because it can damage your eyes. The damage caused by looking at an eclipse without eye protection has earned its own name: eclipse blindness, or solar retinopathy. 

NASA says viewing the sun during the eclipse without the proper protection “will instantly cause severe eye injury.”

When and where is the next total solar eclipse?

Can’t catch the total solar eclipse Monday? Don’t be too bummed.

Despite the fervor surrounding the eclipse, these types of celestial events take place roughly every 18 months, according to astronomers. The next one is actually a bit of a longer wait, occurring on Aug. 12, 2026, but the following total solar eclipse is less than a year afterward, on Aug. 2, 2027.

So, why all the hubbub over Monday's eclipse? It’s because it’s visible in the continental U.S., and across a relatively large, populated swath of the country.

The path of totality for the next solar eclipse, on Aug. 12, 2026, will run through portions of Greenland, Iceland, Portugal, Russia and Spain — but mainly over the Arctic Ocean, as seen in maps provided by the National Solar Observatory. The one after that, on Aug. 2, 2027, will pass across portions of the Middle East and North Africa.

Portions of Australia will catch the following total solar eclipse in 2028, while southern Africa and (again) Australia will see the one after that in 2030. And NASA has mapped out 49 more total solar eclipses through 2100, for anyone planning to become an eclipse tourist in retirement.

How to watch on NewsNation

NewsNation will present special live coverage throughout Monday. Senior national correspondent Brian Entin will co-anchor a special broadcast from the network’s headquarters in Chicago from 1-4:30 p.m. ET, alongside “NewsNation Now” anchors Nichole Berlie and Connell McShane as the eclipse takes place across the United States.

Contributing to the coverage will be correspondents dispatched throughout the country in the areas of totality. National correspondent Brooke Shafer will report live from the Indianapolis Speedway in Indiana, while correspondents Stephanie Haines will be live from Dallas and Ali Bradley will be live from Del Rio, Texas. Additionally, national correspondent Caitlyn Becker will provide live coverage from Niagara Falls State Park in New York.

NewsNation will also provide ongoing coverage and video from NewsNation affiliates across the country as the interest and energy around the eclipse captivates Americans.

NewsNation will also feature special coverage, including analysis and reporting on the impact of the crowds who are traveling to see the solar eclipse, its economic impact and how to watch it safely. NewsNationNow.com and the NewsNation app will livestream the experience and the eclipse as it crosses America.

Find your channel here. Keep up with our live online coverage here.

The Associated Press and NMW contributed to this report.

Dr. Joe Pesce, an astrophysicist with the National Science Foundation, joined NewsNation's "Morning in America" on Sunday to discuss the scientific significance of the celestial event.

"The outer atmosphere, the most extended part of the atmosphere of the Sun is called the corona, which means crown in Latin because it looks like a crown," Pesce explained. "It shows up when the vast portion of the light of the sun is blocked out because it's very faint."

The corona, which can reach millions of degrees in temperature, is a perplexing aspect of the sun that has long intrigued scientists. Pesce said the high temperature of the corona, which contradicts the typical cooling trend as one moves away from the solar surface, is likely due to magnetic fields depositing energy into the low-density gas and plasma.

"It's a rare thing to study because historically, we've only seen it during solar eclipses," Pesce said. "Nowadays, modern astronomers have instruments that can block that out. But it's an important component of the sun."

To further their understanding of the corona, NASA is planning to launch three sounding rockets during the eclipse, providing additional data and insights.

Pesce said that the eclipse itself poses no threat to power grids or GPS systems, contrary to some public concerns. He explained that while solar activity, such as coronal mass ejections, can affect infrastructure, the eclipse itself does not have any disruptive effects.

"This is an accessible astronomical activity that millions of people can participate in. And I think that's fantastic," Pesce said. "And if it encourages someone to go into STEM or to learn more about science and technology, then that's ... terrific."

Monday’s total solar eclipse will land along Mexico’s Pacific coast and cross into Texas and 14 other U.S. states before exiting over Canada.

The moon will shroud the sun for up to 4 minutes and 28 seconds, a spectacle normally unfolding in remote corners of the globe but this time passing over major cities like Dallas, Indianapolis and Cleveland. An estimated 44 million people live within the path of totality, with another couple hundred million within 200 miles, guaranteeing the continent’s biggest eclipse crowd ever.

NewsNation's Sean Noone contributed to this report.

Despite the fervor surrounding the 2024 total solar eclipse, these types of celestial events take place roughly every 18 months, according to astronomers. The next one is actually a bit of a longer wait, occurring on Aug. 12, 2026, but the following total solar eclipse is less than a year afterward, on Aug. 2, 2027.

So why all the hubbub over the April 8 eclipse? It’s because it’s visible in the U.S., and across a relatively large, populated swath of the country.

Future eclipses may be just as brilliant and breathtaking, of course. You'll just have to travel a bit farther to see them.

The path of totality for the next solar eclipse, on Aug. 12, 2026, will run through portions of Greenland, Iceland, Portugal, Russia and Spain — but mainly over the Arctic Ocean, as seen in maps provided by the National Solar Observatory. The one after that, on Aug. 2, 2027, will pass across portions of the Middle East and North Africa.

Portions of Australia will catch the following total solar eclipse in 2028, while southern Africa and (again) Australia will see the one after that in 2030. And NASA has mapped out 49 more total solar eclipses through 2100, for anyone planning to become an eclipse tourist in retirement.

“Since they happen somewhere on Earth every 18 months or so, as an eclipse chaser you can experience quite a few eclipses in a lifetime … if you’re willing to do some serious travel, that is,” Padi Boyd, the chief of NASA’s Exoplanets and Stellar Astrophysics Laboratory, said in a March edition of NASA’s "Curious Universe" podcast.

Other than its occurrence in North America, the upcoming eclipse on April 8 is indeed somewhat exciting for at least a couple of major reasons. For starters, the 2024 eclipse has a wider path of totality than the last total solar eclipse visible from the U.S. in 2017 (roughly 108–122 miles vs. 62–71 miles, respectively) and passes over a more populated swath, with approximately 31.6 million people being in the path of totality vs. the 12 million who were along the path in 2017, according to NASA.

The duration of the upcoming total solar eclipse is also almost two minutes longer than it was in 2017, giving viewers a better chance to see the sun’s corona — which itself may be more active than it was in 2017 thanks to the current period of heightened solar activity.

And let’s not forget that any given spot on Earth will only experience a total solar eclipse about once every 375 years (on average), making it all the more rare that anyone — and especially those who can’t travel to see one — will catch such a sight within their lifetime. Heck, the fact that Earth is even treated to the occasional solar eclipse is monumentally unlikely in the grand scheme of the universe: The sun just happens to be about 400 times larger than the moon, and the moon just happens to be about 400 times closer than the sun, allowing them to line up perfectly with the Earth for a wholly unique view of the corona.

Even if you’re fortunate enough to be able to see multiple total solar eclipses in your lifetime, the experience is one you’ll likely want to relive again and again, as unsettling as it may sometimes be.

“My reaction physiologically is that the hair on the back of my neck is standing up, my heart is racing, and you just get a visceral feeling in your gut that something is wrong,” former NASA astrophysicist Fred Espenak said on “Curious Universe,” describing his reaction to seeing a total solar eclipse. “This just does not seem natural. It seems so far out of any kind of everyday experience.”

Still bummed you might miss the 2024 total solar eclipse? It’s OK. There’s always the next one, which is only a few years away if you’re willing to travel. And if not, you can try recreating the otherworldly experience by watching Vin Diesel drive a car up the side of Machu Picchu, or whatever they’re planning for the next “Fast & Furious” movie.

That might be somewhat comparable, right?