The countdown for the Total Solar Eclipse is nearly over! Before the fun and excitement, here is some information about the Great American Eclipse, plus a few tips for the upcoming event.

The Great American Eclipse of 2017

A total solar eclipse is an astonishing sight where day turns to night with only the Sun's corona showing. This cosmic display occurs where the Sun, Moon, and Earth line up to reveal the Sun's corona. The entire eclipse lasts for almost three hours but you only get a few minutes of totality. The last total solar eclipse in the USA occurred in 1979.

Rules to strictly follow:

What's a Supermoon?

Easy, it's a moon that is so close to Earth that it appears bigger in the sky.

So try to catch the moon on the nights of November 13 and 14!

On Nov 14, 2016  the full moon will align with its perihelion. Astronomers call that a perigee full moon, or when they are feeling a bit silly they call it perigee-syzygy.

This will make for the largest "Supermoon" for a looooong time. How long?

It’s the closest supermoon since 1948 and the moon won’t come this close again until 2034.

To learn more click here.

Tomorrow Saturday March 18 the Moon will be closer to Earth than that it has been since 1993!

The "supermoon" appears 14 percent larger and 30 percent brighter than lesser full Moons (as always this is with weather permitting). A casual observer probably won't tell the difference.

This full Moon almost coincides with perigee (which is when the Moon is closest to Earth). That means a very large range of high and low ocean tides. The highest tides lag by a few days depending on your location. For example, here in San Francisco, CA the highest tide (6.5 feet) will be attained on March 22. Any storms at sea now can aggravate coastal flooding. Such an extreme tide is known as a perigean spring tide (spring from the German word springen – to "spring up," and not the spring season).

Try to catch the Moon near the horizon, and it can appear enormous. This is due to the famous “Moon illusion” where a Moon looks incredibly large when it is seen near trees, buildings or other foreground objects. You can check the times for Moonrise and Moonset for your area by going to these websites:

Sun or Moon Rise/Set Table for One Year: U.S. Cities and Towns

Sun or Moon Rise/Set Table for One Year: Locations Worldwide

For example, did you know we can see more than half the Moon from Earth? Yes we can actually see 59 percent (almost three-fifths)!

Why? The Moon's rotation is uniform but its rate of revolution is not. So sometimes we see just around the edge of each limb!

The images you see in this article is a small version of a half-gigabyte gigantic image of the Moon. This image was stitched together from images taken by a Moon-orbiting satellite called the Lunar Reconnaisance Orbiter.

P.S. Happy Mooning!

Get ready for WINTER SOLSTICE coming on December 20 this year. That's the shortest day and longers night in the Northern Hemisphere.

If you live in North America you'll get a chance to see a TOTAL LUNAR ECLIPSE on the very same day! Well, that is assuming the skies are clear, of course!

Here on the West Coast the lunar eclipse begins around 9:30 p.m. PST Monday. The entire eclipse will be observable and it lasts just a few hours.

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/home/111597159.html

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40688030/ns/technology_and_science-space/