On Monday, much of the continental U.S. will experience the first total solar eclipse in almost 100 years. Nebraska is one of the best places to see it. Solar eclipses occur when the moon passes between the sun and the earth, casting its shadow across a part of the globe. But the earth is big, and much of it is covered by water: “So most of the time when once of these eclipses occur they're not at a convenient location to get to,” said Dan Claes, chair of the department of physics and astronomy at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. While partial solar eclipses happen a few times a year, for the sun and moon to line up exactly is even less common, Claes said. And this year, we’re especially lucky.
“To have it occur, basically in your own backyard, where all you have to do is waltz outside to see it, that's something very special,” Claes said. “And that can be decades and even hundreds of years from the occurrence of one to the next.”