The August 21st, 2017 solar eclipse is poised to be one of the most spectacular celestial events of the year. And, surely, it will be a pleasant sight for anyone who loves looking up at the sky, like most of us who are members of or love to follow The Planetary Society!

But the eclipse isn't just about watching the moon block out the sun, or even about what we can visibly "see." In fact, there's so much going on that is invisible to our eyes that NASA has selected 11 ground-based science experiments to study the unseen effects of the eclipse. The eclipse's long path and wide swath across the continental United States will provide an opportunity to study the Earth's upper atmosphere, the Sun, the moon, and how all three interact with one another.