New Google doodle explains the science of a total solar eclipse, adorably
Just like almost everyone else in the United States, Google is amped about the total solar eclipse sweeping the nation on Monday.
An adorable new doodle reimagines the solar eclipse not as the result of the orbital motion of heavenly bodies, but as the product of a game between two aliens tossing the moon in front of the sun.
It's pretty cute.
If you click on the doodle, Google takes you to a series of vertical videos (hello, Snapchat clone) that explain exactly what lunar and solar eclipses are and why they happen at all.
This particular total solar eclipse is special for a number of reasons.
First, this will be the first coast-to-coast total solar eclipse in 99 years when starts in Oregon and ends in South Carolina later today. The eclipse is also unique in that millions of people around the country will get the chance to see the cosmic event.
Usually solar eclipses only pass over sparsely populated parts of the world (because most of the world is sparsely populated).
While the total eclipse will only be seen by people in a 70-mile-wide path between Oregon and South Carolina, everyone in North America will have the chance to see a partial eclipse.
Just be sure to use your solar eclipse glasses or an indirect viewer to check out the big cosmic show!
Topics Google
Miriam Kramer worked as a staff writer for Space.com for about 2.5 years before joining Mashable to cover all things outer space. She took a ride in weightlessness on a zero-gravity flight and watched rockets launch to space from places around the United States. Miriam received her Master's degree in science, health and environmental reporting from New York University in 2012, and she originally hails from Knoxville, Tennessee. Follow Miriam on Twitter at @mirikramer.
