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Total solar eclipse: When is it, where is it happening and how to watch in the UK
What's happening? Today, all of North America will witness an eclipse of the sun for the first time in 99 years, where the Moon will pass in front of the Sun casting darkness across swathes of the Earth's surface. Dubbed the Great American Eclipse, the moment will see the Sun, the Moon and the Earth become perfectly aligned in a once-in-a-lifetime celestial spectacle seen from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean. Although we won't see a perfect alignment in the UK, we will be able to see a partial eclipse (where the moon covers only a part of the sun). 10 amazing places in America to watch the 2017 solar eclipse Who will see it? Everyone in North America, parts of South America, Africa and Europe - including the UK - will see at least a partial solar eclipse, where the moon covers only a part of the sun. However, 14 states across the United States will experience a total solar eclipse with more than two minutes of darkness descending in the middle of the day over the course of 100 minutes. More than 12 million Americans live inside the path of totality and more than half of the nation live within 400 miles of it. Millions more are expected to travel to cities along the path to witness the phenomenon. Where and when to see the eclipse What causes an eclipse? The diameter of the Sun is 400 times that of the Moon but it lies 400 times further away - which means if you are in exactly the right alignment on the surface of the Earth at the right time, you will see the two celestial bodies overlap exactly. What creates a total solar eclipse Where can I see the eclipse in the UK? Sadly Brits won't get a total eclipse like our friends across the pond, but we will be treated to a slight partial eclipse which will still be worth watching. It will be visible in parts of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland from around 19:35 on August 21 - but make sure you're in a spot where there's no cloud. UK eclipse circumstances for August 21 2017 What areas will see total blackout? Anyone within the path of totality will see the sky become dark for several minutes as the moon completely covers the sun. The path is relatively thin, around 70 miles wide, and stretches from Salem, Oregon to Charleston, South Carolina. It will first be seen at Lincoln Beach, Oregon at 9:05 PDT, with totality beginning at 10:16 PDT. Over the next 90 minutes, it will cross through Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, and North and end near Charleston, South Carolina at 14:28 EDT. The lunar shadow will leave the US at 04:09 EDT. Its longest duration will be near Carbondale, Illinois, where the sun will be completely covered for two minutes and 40 seconds. What time can I see the total eclipse? Here are the mid-eclipse times for some of the major towns and cities along the path of totality, according to Nasa. All times are local. Where to see it | The Great American solar eclipse Will there be a live stream? Yes - Nasa will host an Eclipse Megacast for four hours during the eclipse which will be picked up by local, national and international TV stations. You can also follow all the action via the Telegraph. How can I see it safely? Never look directly at the Sun, even through sunglasses or dark material such as a bin liner or photographic negative. Makeshift filters may not screen out the harmful infrared radiation that can burn the retina of the eye risking permanent eye damage and blindness. Also, viewers must never use binoculars or a telescope. Wear special eclipse viewing glasses - not ordinary sunglasses - or construct a simple pinhole camera which projects an image of the Sun onto a blank piece of paper. Solar eclipse: how to watch the eclipse safely When will Britain next see a solar eclipse? There was a pretty spectacular eclipse in Britain in March 2015, but the last total eclipse in the UK was in August 1999. You might be waiting a while for the next decent one too - it won't take place until August 12, 2026. On that date up to 95 per cent of the Sun will be obscured. Britain will not see a total solar eclipse until September 23, 2090. How we watched the 1999 solar eclipse - in 90 seconds 01:42 Total solar eclipses in history Eclipses have both fascinated and terrified civilisations for centuries. When King Henry I of England, the son of William the Conqueror, died in 1133, his death happened to coincide with a total solar eclipse plummeting the nation into darkness for four minutes and 38 seconds. Historian William of Malmesbury wrote in 1140 that "the darkness was so great that people at first thought the world was ending."
Elon Musk and 115 other experts ask the UN to ban killer robots in open letter
Elon Musk, Google DeepMind co-founder Mustafa Suleyman, and 114 other leading AI and robotics experts have joined together to ask the UN to ban the use of so-called killer robots in an open letter published today. The group is concerned about the potential use of lethal autonomous weapons and how they might be applied in the future, and they penned a short note released by the Future of Life Institute. The text was made public to kick off the opening of the International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence (IJCAI 2017) in Melbourne, Australia, according to a press release. "Lethal autonomous weapons" refers to the drones, autonomous machine guns, tanks, and other forms of weaponry controlled by AI on next-generation battlefields. Musk, for one, is famously wary of AI's potential to go bad, recently calling it "the greatest threat we face as a civilization," above even nuclear weapons — but the open letter is the first time a group of AI and robotics companies have joined forces to petition the UN specifically about autonomous weapons, according to the release. SEE ALSO: The world's most automated country moves toward setting a 'robot tax' The UN’s Review Conference of the Convention on Conventional Weapons had unanimously agreed to start formal discussions on the prohibition of autonomous weapons, and 19 of the member countries have already supported banning the killer robots outright. The group was slated to meet on Aug. 21, but has been delayed until November, according to
Fortune. The open letter, which was signed by representatives from companies worth collectively billions of dollars across 26 countries, could put even more pressure to make a prohibition happen. One of the autonomous lethal weapons already out in the world.Image: future of life instituteThe actual text of the letter is short and stark. You can read it here, but we've included the most essential passage below: Co-signer Yoshua Bengio, a deep learning expert who founded Element AI, is concerned about more than just the immediate damage lethal autonomous weapons might cause. He cited the potential to "hurt the further development of AI’s good applications" by focusing on warfare and the inevitable backlash against the technology as a major reason for his participation in the effort. The Future of Life Institute published a similar letter in 2015, which was signed by Musk, Stephen Hawking, and others with a message warning against the broader dangers of AI, not just those created for warfare. The danger posed by non-military AI is much less pressing, which makes some of Musk's statements feel overblown and ridiculous and his self-important spat with Mark Zuckerberg more of a media spectacle than a debate with real stakes. But the potential for autonomous weapons to do damage, as the open letter states, is here now. Hopefully, the UN listens to the experts. WATCH: Elon Musk's self-taught AI bot destroyed an esports pro in 'Dota 2'
Police uncover gas arsenal at bomb factory as Barcelona mourns
Spanish police said Sunday they had uncovered a cache of 120 gas canisters at a house believed to be the bomb-making factory of suspects in terror attacks that claimed 14 lives, as Barcelona mourned victims of the rampage. The suspected jihadists had been preparing bombs for "one or more attacks in Barcelona", regional police chief Josep Lluis Trapero told reporters, revealing that traces of TATP explosive had also been found.
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