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SOMEWHERE HIGH ABOVE THE EARTH — As Monday's solar eclipse looms, get the egg cream fixings ready for a nice refreshment after the moon shrouds the sun.
And here are your vocabulary phrases to learn — "Bailey's beads" and "diamond ring."
If you're not totally sure what to expect, the Weather Channel offers a nice, quick eclipse primer, including a graphic representation of what exactly will happen. Sometimes visual aids can explain things better than words.
Key takeaways:
- The moon will be passing in front of the sun, preventing the orb's rays from reaching the Earth and temporarily darkening the skies.
- The darkness will last for about four minutes from location to location, causing temporary temperature dips of 10 degrees or more in areas that experience a total eclipse.
- The moon travels 1,500 mph.
- Bailey's beads — bright, twinkling glimmers of light from the sun — will occur just before totality, when the moon completely blocks the sun.
- The ring of light at totality as the sun's rays peek round the moon is called — surprise, surprise — diamond ring.
- Only 1 in 10,000 people will see a total eclipse in their lifetime.
- The egg cream is "the traditional post-eclipse celebratory drink."
The video doesn't explain what an egg cream is, but according to AllRecipes.com, it's not a complicated drink — just seltzer water, milk and chocolate syrup. Stock up ahead of time.
Don't get too excited if you plan to stick around Utah — the eclipse effect here will be about half of totality, which extends in a band from Texas northeasterly to northern Maine, according to the Weather Channel. The eclipse will cross the United States over the course of an hour, roughly from 12:30-1:30 p.m. Utah time.
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