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How to Tour the Supreme Court

This post covers how to attend a U.S. Supreme Court tour as well as courtroom lectures and oral arguments with tips on how to plan your visit and what you might see.  

• Where is the Supreme Court
• Guided Tours + Exhibits
• Courtroom Lecture
• Attend a Supreme Court Case
• Visit the US Capitol and Library of Congress
• Other Things to Do in DC

HOW TO GET TO THE SUPREME COURT

The Supreme Court Building is located at 1 First Street St NE across the street from the US Capitol Building and the Library of Congress.

Use this link for directions to the Supreme Court . 

Or let us take you here on one of our pay-what-you-like  Capitol Hill Tours .

It is a 7 min walk from the Capitol South Station Metro ( Blue , Orange , Silver ). Exit the station and continue north on First Street for two blocks.

It is also about a 15-minute walk from Union Station ( Red ), which has a paid parking garage. 

If you are new to DC's subway system, then read our guide on how to use the DC Metro system .

There are no parking facilities at the building. Street parking is very limited. You can reserve a space at nearby commercial garages through a service called SpotHero .

Supreme Court Hours:

The Supreme Court is open on weekdays 9 am - 3 pm , excluding Federal Holidays. The building is not open on the weekend.

Like most federal buildings, you will be required to enter through security. There are two doors on either side of the main steps on the plaza level to enter the building.  

Prohibited items  include weapons and other dangerous items.

SUPREME COURT TOURS + CURRENT EXHIBITS

The Supreme Court currently does not offer guided tours; visitors are encouraged to tour the building independently ( or on a tour with us !).  

In reality, visitors are limited to only the public portions of the building, which are mostly the exhibits on the ground floor as well as the Main Hall on the 2nd floor.  

There are several opportunities to visit the main courtroom (see below sections on attending a court lecture or to hear a case ).

Once through security, you will be on the ground floor.

Here you will find a 24-minute film that covers the history of the building, with interviews with the Chief Justice as well as Associate and former Justices.

It's on this floor where you will also find the current exhibitions .

• The Supreme Court Building: America's Temple of Justice
• Reading the Law: Legal Education in America
• Sandra Day O'Connor, First Woman on the Supreme Court
• The Power of Image: Charles Evans Hughes in Prints, Photographs, and Drawings
• Capturing Justice: Judicial Portraits by Augustus Saint-Gaudens

Supreme Court Building Tours

We are able to offer small group private tours that visit inside the Supreme Court on private versions of our Capitol Hill & Library of Congress Tour!

This 2 hour tour would tour inside the Supreme Court Building, inside the Library of Congress & end with tickets to tour inside the Capitol Building with their professional docents (this tour would be an additional 50 minutes to our 2 hour tour)

Our almost twice-a-day public version of this tour does not guarantee entrance into the Supreme Court (though sometimes we can visit inside based on security and opening). On private tours, we can schedule it to ensure we can go inside the Supreme Court.

Contact us to book a private Capitol Hill tour that enters the Supreme Court!

HOW TO ATTEND A SUPREME COURT LECTURE

Since this is a working federal building, you are limited as to where you can go on your self-guided tour.

The only way to visit the courtroom is by attending a docent lecture or attending a case.

You can read about attending a case below but if you are visiting on a day that the court is not hearing a case, you can still have a seat in the courtroom and listen to the history of the court and the building.

30-minute courtroom lectures are held every half-hour from 9:30 am to 3:30 pm.  

Seating is first-come, first-served, so during the busy spring and summer months, expect to get there early to wait in line.

For the most up-to-date information on when lectures are scheduled, visit the lecture calendar .

  HOW TO ATTEND A SUPREME COURT ORAL ARGUMENT

While you can visit the Supreme Court courtroom as a visitor for lectures, cases are also open to the public.

Called Oral Arguments, these are the 1-hour long sessions where each side is allowed 30 minutes to argue before the court.

From the first Monday to October to Mid-April, cases are generally heard on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays at 10 am and at 11 am, with additional afternoon sessions as needed.

There are two ways to attend a Supreme Court case.

You could either secure a seat and witness the entire Oral Arguments, or you can catch a quick 3-minute glimpse of the proceedings. (the 3-minute line is suspended still as of Feb 2024)

These two lines form on the plaza before each case.

For a landmark Supreme Court case, some people will line up days in advance to guarantee a spot. On a non-high-profile day, people arrive around 6 am-7 am.

Normally, only the first 50 are able to get in for the entire session.

Numbered tickets are given out prior to seating to allow you time to go to the restroom, cafeteria, and cloakroom.

If you don't get a seat , you can also do a walk-through where you stay for a few minutes and then move on. You can rotate through as many times as you'd like by getting back in line. (This is not an option as of Feb 2024. We hope it returns soon!)

You can also attend Bench Mondays (Mondays, 10 am, mid-May through June) to hear the court opinions and decisions.

These are about 15 - 30 minutes long, but can also form long lines for high-profile cases.

To see what cases are being argued, visit the Argument Calendar.

SUPREME COURT JUSTICES

How many justices are on the Supreme Court?

There are 9 Supreme Court Justices in total: 8 associate justices and one Chief Justice.

How do you become a Supreme Court Justice?

There are only two requirements to be a Supreme Court justice. It is not based on age, citizenship, or experience.

You must be nominated by the President and approved by Senate. It is a lifetime appointment that one holds until they retire.

Who is the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court?

The Supreme Court Chief Justice is a position appointed by the President, so it is not relevant to the length of time they serve on the court.

The current Supreme Court Justice is John Roberts.

Who are the current Supreme Court Justices?

• Clarence Thomas (1991)
• John Roberts (2005
• Samuel Alito (2006)
• Sonia Sotomeyer (2009)
• Elena Kagen (2010)
• Neil Gorsuch (2017)
• Brett Cavanaugh (2018)
• Amy Coney Barrett (2020)
• Ketanji Brown Jackson (2022)

VISIT THE U.S. CAPITOL BUILDING AND THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

Why not make a half-day of it and visit both the U.S. Capitol Building as well as the Thomas Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress?

Both are adjacent to the Supreme Court Building. 

You could also have lunch at the Capitol Visitor Center.  

For more information on visiting and touring both buildings, click on the links below.

• U.S. Capitol Building
• Library of Congress

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U.S. Supreme Court Tours and Information

U.S. Supreme Court Tours

Please note that the Supreme Court is currently closed to the public.

What do you need to know? Building Hours & Entrances Monday – Friday (except Federal Holidays) 9 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. Closed on Saturday and Sunday Visitors may enter the building from the Plaza doors located on each side of the main steps. A wheelchair accessible ramp is located along Maryland Avenue on the left side of the building. All visitors must pass through security screening before entering the building. During the months of March – June, visitors should anticipate longer wait times to enter the building due to larger crowds visiting the Nation's Capital. Location and Directions The Supreme Court of the United States is located on First Street NE between East Capitol Street and Maryland Avenue, adjacent to the U.S. Capitol and the Library of Congress. View area map. By Metro (Subway): The closest Metro stops are: Capitol South (Orange, Blue and Silver Lines, 0.3 miles) Union Station (Red Line, 0.5 miles). By Metro Bus: The Circulator (Navy Yard Line), 96, 97, and A11 buses all stop in front of the Supreme Court Building. The 32, 34, 36, and 39 buses stop at First Street and Independence Avenue, a two block walk from the Building. Additional information on riding the Metro is available at the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority. By Train: Amtrak, VRE, and MARC trains service Union Station, which is located approximately 0.5 miles from the Court. By Car: Street parking is extremely limited near the Supreme Court. The closest public parking garage is located at Union Station. Please note that the Supreme Court is not accessible by private bus or passenger van. Please see designated bus routes and restrictions. Cafeteria, Gift Shop, and Building Amenities A Cafeteria serving a variety of sandwiches, soups, salads, and beverages is open to the public from 7:30 a.m. until 4 p.m., Monday through Friday. A Gift Shop is located on the Ground Floor and is open from 9 a.m. until 4:25 p.m., Monday through Friday. The Gift Shop features extensive offerings of books and other instructive materials to enhance your understanding of the Court's history. Other offerings include educational games, learning aids, and gift items associated with the law and the Supreme Court. For your convenience, an ATM, public telephone (TTY/TDD), and vending machines are available on the Ground Floor. Public restrooms are located on the First and Ground Floors. Visitor Etiquette The Supreme Court is the highest court in the Nation for all cases and controversies arising under the Constitution or laws of the United States; therefore, visitors are asked to follow a few general guidelines. • Be prepared to pass through security screening at your point of entry. All items must be screened in x-ray machines and all visitors will be asked to pass through metal detectors. • Please tour the building quietly as working offices are adjacent to all public halls. Any visitors unable to maintain proper decorum will be asked to leave by the Supreme Court Police. • No photography or video recording is permitted inside the Courtroom. • Smoking is prohibited inside the building. • Consumption of food and beverages is permitted only in the Cafeteria and vending machine alcove. • Visitors may not touch portraits, busts, or other artifacts on exhibition. Accessibility Building Access and Parking Ramp access to the building is located along Maryland Avenue on the left side of the building. Limited handicap parking is also available along Maryland Avenue. Wheelchair Availability and Access A limited number of wheelchairs are available free of charge at your point of entry. Wheelchairs may be obtained from a Supreme Court Police Officer. Elevators are available throughout the building with access to all public areas. Assistive Listening Devices When Court is sitting, induction loop, FM and infra-red listening systems for the hearing impaired are available. Devices may be obtained from a Supreme Court Police Officer or Courtroom Attendant as you are being seated. Visitors' Film The film is accompanied by open captioning at each showing. TTY Telephone A wheelchair accessible, text telephone (TTY) is available in the vending machine alcove adjacent to the Maryland Avenue door. How do I get scheduled for a tour? Click here to vist the the Supreme Court website.

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Russian court shuts renowned rights group

Police officers detain a demonstrator as people gather in front of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, Dec. 28, 2021. Russia’s Supreme Court has ruled that one of the country’s oldest and most prominent human rights organizations should be shut down. The move is the latest step in a months-long crackdown on dissent. The Prosecutor General’s Office last month petitioned the Supreme Court to revoke the legal status of Memorial — an international human rights group that rose to prominence for its studies of political repression in the Soviet Union. (AP Photo)

Police officers unlock a man who chained himself to a pole in front of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, Dec. 28, 2021. Russia’s Supreme Court has ruled that one of the country’s oldest and most prominent human rights organizations should be shut down. The move is the latest step in a months-long crackdown on dissent. The Prosecutor General’s Office last month petitioned the Supreme Court to revoke the legal status of Memorial — an international human rights group that rose to prominence for its studies of political repression in the Soviet Union. (AP Photo)

Supporters of the Memorial human rights group wearing face masks with the words “The Memorial cannot be banned!” gather in front of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, Dec. 28, 2021. The Supreme Court is continuing hearings on the liquidation of the Memorial human rights group. The authorities are ramping up pressure on the Soviet-rooted group, as part of its months-long crackdown on activists, independent media and opposition supporters. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin)

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny is seen in a video link from a prison during a court session in Petushki, Vladimir region, about 120 kilometers (75 miles) east of Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, Dec. 28, 2021. Jailed Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny appears in the Petushinsky court via video link at a hearing on his lawsuit against his prison colony classifying him as posing a potential extremist or terrorist threat. (Evgeny Feldman/Meduza via AP)

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny is seen in a video link from a prison, during a court session in Petushki, Vladimir region, about 120 kilometers (75 miles) east of Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, Dec. 28, 2021. Jailed Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny appears in the Petushinsky court via video link at a hearing on his lawsuit against his prison colony classifying him as posing a potential extremist or terrorist threat. (Evgeny Feldman/Meduza via AP)

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny smiles speaking in a video link from a prison during a court session in Petushki, Vladimir region, about 120 kilometers (75 miles) east of Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, Dec. 28, 2021. Jailed Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny appears in the Petushinsky court via video link at a hearing on his lawsuit against his prison colony classifying him as posing a potential extremist or terrorist threat. (Evgeny Feldman/Meduza via AP)

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny gestures while speaking via a video link from a prison during a court session in Petushki, Vladimir region, about 120 kilometers (75 miles) east of Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, Dec. 28, 2021. Jailed Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny appears in the Petushinsky court via video link at a hearing on his lawsuit against his prison colony classifying him as posing a potential extremist or terrorist threat. (Evgeny Feldman/Meduza via AP)

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MOSCOW (AP) — Russia’s highest court on Tuesday shut down one of the country’s oldest and most prominent human rights organizations, the latest move in a relentless crackdown on rights activists, independent media and opposition supporters.

The Supreme Court’s ruling to close Memorial, an international human rights group that drew international acclaim for its studies of political repression in the Soviet Union, sparked international outrage.

Memorial is made up of more than 50 smaller groups in Russia and abroad. It was declared a “foreign agent” in 2016 — a label that implies additional government scrutiny and carries strong pejorative connotations that can discredit the targeted organization. Prosecutors said the group repeatedly failed to identify itself as a foreign agent and tried to conceal the designation, the accusations rejected by Memorial.

During the hearing, prosecutors also charged that Memorial “creates a false image of the USSR as a terrorist state,” a claim the group said revealed the authorities’ real motive.

“The Supreme Court’s ruling confirmed once again that the history of political terror organized and directed by the government isn’t an academic issue that is interesting only for experts, but an acute problem of today,” Memorial said in a statement. “Memorial embodies the Russian citizens’ need to know the truth about the country’s tragic path and the fate of millions. No one would be able to ‘liquidate’ that need.”

The group said it would appeal the verdict and pledged to continue its work.

“Of course, nothing is over with this,” Maria Eismont, one of the lawyers that represented the group in court, said after the ruling. “We will appeal, and Memorial will live on with the people — because it’s the people behind it serving this great cause first and foremost. The work will continue.”

A crowd that gathered in front of the courthouse on Tuesday erupted into chants of “Disgrace!” in response to the ruling. Police detained several people who picketed the courthouse.

The Council of Europe’s Secretary General, Marija Pejčinović Burić, described the move as “devastating news” and “a dark day for civil society in the Russian Federation.”

Amnesty International called Memorial’s closure “a blatant attack on civil society that seeks to blur the national memory of state repression” and “a grave insult to victims of the Russian Gulag.”

U.S. Ambassador John Sullivan deplored the court’s verdict as “a blatant and tragic attempt to suppress freedom of expression and erase history.”

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian expressed “indignation and concern” at the shutdown of the NGO Memorial International, calling it “a terrible loss for the Russian people.”

“This announcement is deeply worrying about the future of historical research and the defense of human rights in Russia,” he said in a statement.

Memorial’s sister organization, the Memorial Human Rights Center, is up for closure as well, with a court hearing Wednesday morning in Moscow City Court.

Russian authorities in recent months have ratcheted up pressure on rights groups, media outlets and individual journalists, naming dozens as foreign agents. Some were outlawed as “undesirable” and several were forced to shut down or disband themselves to prevent further prosecution.

On Saturday, authorities blocked the website of OVD-Info — a prominent legal aid group that focuses on political arrests — and urged social media platforms to take down its accounts after a court ruled that the website contained materials that “justify actions of extremist and terrorist groups.” The group rejected the charges as politically driven.

OVD-Info condemned the ruling to shut down Memorial.

“Memorial is an institution of national memory about the times of the Great Terror and Soviet repressions,” the group said in a statement, adding that its closure amounted to an attempt to justify Soviet dictator Josef Stalin’s repressions.” “It is a clear signal both to society and to the elites: ‘Yes, repressions were necessary and useful to the Soviet state in the past, and we need them today as well.’”

On Tuesday, five associates of imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny were taken into custody. Earlier this year, a Moscow court outlawed Navalny’s organizations — the Foundation for Fighting Corruption and his country-wide network of regional offices — as extremist, exposing their staff members and supporters to prosecution.

One of the five detained activists, Ksenia Fadeyeva, is reportedly facing charges of forming an extremist group. Fadeyeva used to run Navalny’s regional office in the Siberian city of Tomsk, and in last year’s election won a seat in the city legislature.

Another Navalny associate, Lilia Chanysheva, was arrested and jailed in November on similar charges. She used to head Navalny’s office in the Russian region of Bashkortostan and is facing up to 10 years in prison, if convicted.

Navalny himself is serving 2½ years in prison for violating the terms of his probation from a 2014 embezzlement conviction that is widely seen as politically motivated. The politician was arrested in January upon returning from Germany, where he spent five months recovering from a nerve agent poisoning that he said was carried out by the FSB security agency on Kremlin orders — accusations that Russian officials reject.

On Tuesday, Navalny attended a court hearing on his appeal against prison authorities’ decision to put him under special surveillance as a person inclined to “extremist and terrorist” activities.

“Why should I sleep under the sign where it is written that I’m a terrorist?” he told the judge by videoconference from prison. “I didn’t explode anybody, I didn’t take hostages, I didn’t do anything like that and don’t plan to. It’s me who was a victim of a terrorist attack when FSB officers tried to kill me.”

Most of Navalny’s top associates have faced prosecution this year on various criminal charges and have left Russia.

Also on Tuesday, another prominent human rights organization — the Civic Assistance Committee that helps refugees and migrants in Russia — said the authorities were evicting it from an office in Moscow it had been allowed to occupy free of charge for years.

Moscow city officials handed the group a document voiding the agreement allowing the use of the space without compensation and ordered it to leave within a month.

“I link it to the overall trend of destroying civil society in Russia,” Civic Assistance Committee head Svetlana Gannushkina told Mediazona.

Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow and Sylvie Corbet in Paris contributed to this report.

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The Eclipse Chaser

As millions of americans prepare to see a total solar eclipse, a retired astrophysicist known as “mr. eclipse,” discusses the celestial phenomenon..

This transcript was created using speech recognition software. While it has been reviewed by human transcribers, it may contain errors. Please review the episode audio before quoting from this transcript and email [email protected] with any questions.

Can you hear — Fred, can you hear me?

[DISTORTED SPEECH]:

The internet is a little wonky.

OK. Well, [DISTORTED SPEECH]: Arizona. So the internet speed here isn’t really fast.

I think we’re going to call — yeah, I think we’re going to call you back on a — for the first time in a really long time — a landline.

[PHONE RINGING]

Hey, Fred, it’s Michael Barbaro.

You can hear me OK?

I can hear you.

Perfect. So, Fred, where exactly am I reaching you?

I’m in Portal, Arizona, in a little community called Arizona Sky Village. And it’s a very rural community. So our internet and phone lines are not very good. And the nearest grocery store is 60 miles away.

Wow. And why would you choose to live in such a remote place with such bad internet?

Because the sky is dark. It’s like the sky was a hundred years ago before cities encroached on all of the country. I guess you’d call it an astronomy development. Mainly, amateur astronomers who have built homes here far from city lights for the express purpose of studying the sky.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

So it’s literally a community where once the sun goes down, it’s pitch black. And some, perhaps all of you, are stargazing?

Yes, exactly.

Well, I think I’m beginning to understand why you might have the nickname that you do. Can you just tell our listeners what that nickname is?

My nickname is Mr. Eclipse.

From “The New York Times,” I’m Michael Barbaro. This is “The Daily.” Today’s total solar eclipse will be watched by millions of people across North America, none of them as closely as Fred Espenak, a longtime NASA scientist who’s devoted his entire life to studying, chasing, and popularizing the wonder that is an eclipse.

It’s Monday, April 8.

Fred, help me understand how you become Mr. Eclipse, how you go from being Fred to this seemingly very hard-earned nickname of Mr. Eclipse.

Well, I was visiting my grandparents at their summer home. And it was a partial eclipse of the sun back in the early 1960s. And I was a 10 - or 12-year-old kid. I got my parents to get me a small telescope. And I watched some of the partial phases. And it was really interesting.

And I started reading about eclipses. And I found out that as interesting as a partial eclipse is, a total eclipse is far more interesting. The moon is only 1/400 the diameter of the sun. It’s tiny compared to the sun. But it’s 400 times closer to the Earth. So it’s just this incredible coincidence that the moon and sun appear to be the same size in the sky. And once in a while, the moon passes directly between the Earth and the sun. And you’re plunged into this very strange midday twilight.

But they’re limited to a very small geographic areas to see a total eclipse. And this little book I was studying had a map of the world, showing upcoming paths of total solar eclipses. And I realized that one was passing through North America about 600 miles from where I lived. And that eclipse was in 1970.

And I was reading about this in 1963, 1964. And I made a promise to myself that I was going to get to that eclipse in 1970 to see it because I thought it was a one chance in a lifetime to see a total eclipse of the sun.

So just to be very clear, you see a partial eclipse, and you immediately think to yourself, that was fine. But I need the real thing. I need a full eclipse. And you happen to find out, around this time, that a real eclipse is coming but in seven years.

Right. I mean, there were other eclipses between that time and seven years in the future. But they were in other parts of the world. And I couldn’t buy an airplane ticket and fly to Europe or Australia.

And by 1970, I’d been waiting for this. And by this point, I had just gotten a driver’s license. And I convinced my parents to let me drive the car 600 miles to get down into the path of totality to see this great event.

Wow. Wait, from where to where?

From Staten Island, New York, down to a little town in North Carolina.

How did you convince your parents to let you do that? I mean, that’s —

Well, I had seven years to work on it.

[LAUGHS]: Right.

And I was just a nerdy kid. I didn’t get into trouble. I was interested in science. I was out in the woods, studying frogs and wildlife and stuff. So this was just a natural progression of the type of things I would normally do.

Right. OK. So I wonder if you can describe this journey you end up taking from Staten Island. How does the trip unfold as you’re headed on this 600 mile?

So, I think, on March 6, 1970, it was a Friday. My friend and I left to drive to the eclipse path. We probably got on the road probably at 5:00 AM because it was going to be a very long day.

And we’ve got a detailed map in the car, which I’ve plotted the eclipse path on. And we’re just trying to get far enough south to get into the path of the eclipse, which for us is easternmost Virginia or Eastern North Carolina. And I drive and drive and drive all day long. Very long day.

We get down to North Carolina right about maybe 6:00 PM. And we just see this little town in North Carolina that we’re driving through. And it happens to have a convenient motel right in the center of the path. And that was good enough. Got a room available. And we check in. And that’s where we’re going to watch the eclipse from.

And the next morning was eclipse day. It was a bright, crisp, sunny morning. There weren’t any clouds at all in the sky. And I was amazed that outside the back of the motel, in this grassy field, there were dozens and dozens of people with telescopes out there, specifically there for the eclipse that morning.

We were really excited about this. We set up our — my telescope. And we had another camera set up to watch it. And we walked around and marveled at some of the other people and their telescopes and discussed the eclipse with them. And the eclipse started probably around noon or 1:00 in the afternoon.

Describe the actual event itself, the eclipse. How did it begin?

Well, all solar eclipses begin as a partial eclipse. And the sun is gradually covered by the moon as the moon takes larger and larger pieces out of the sun, as it slowly crawls across the sun’s surface. And you don’t really notice much going on with a naked eye.

It’s really only in the last 10 minutes or so that you start to notice changes in the environment because now enough of the sun has been covered, upwards of maybe 90 percent of the sun. And you start to notice the temperature falling. There’s a chill in the air.

Also, since so much of the sun is covered, the daylight starts to take on an anemic quality. It’s weak. The sun is still too bright to look at. But the surroundings, the environment is not as bright as it was a half hour earlier.

You start to notice animals reacting to the dwindling sunlight. They start acting like it’s sunset. And they start performing some of their evening rituals, like birds roosting, perhaps calling their evening songs. And plants start closing up and the dropping sunlight. And then the dropping temperatures.

And there’s an acceleration now of all these effects. The temperature drop, the drop in the sunlight, it starts happening faster and faster and getting darker and darker. And maybe about a minute before the total eclipse began, we noticed strange patterns on the ground beneath us, on the grassy field that we were on — these ripples racing across the field. And these are something called shadow bands.

They look a lot like the rippling patterns that you would see on the bottom of a swimming pool, bands of light and dark, and moving very quickly across the ground. The sky is — it’s a dark blue. And it’s getting darker rapidly in this dwindling sunlight. And you go from daylight to twilight in just 10 or 20 seconds. It’s almost like someone has the hand on the rheostat and turns the house lights down in the theater.

You just see the light just go right down.

And the sky gets dark enough that the corona, the outer atmosphere of the sun, starts emerging from the background sky. This ring or halo of gas that surrounds the sun, and it’s visible around the moon, which is in silhouette against the sun. And along one edge of the moon is this bright bead of sunlight because that’s the last remaining piece of the sun before it becomes total.

And this is the diamond ring effect because you’ve got the ring of the corona and this dazzling jewel along one edge of it. You only get to see this for 10 or 15 seconds — it’s very fleeting — before the moon completely covers the sun’s disk. And totality begins. Suddenly, you’re in this twilight of the moon’s shadow.

And you look around the horizon. And you’re seeing the colors of sunrise or sunset 360 degrees around the horizon because you’re looking out the edge of the moon’s shadow. And looking back up into the sky, the sun is gone now. And you see this black disk of the moon in silhouette surrounded by the sun’s corona.

Maybe this says more about my nature than anything else, but what you’re describing, a little bit, feels like the end of the world.

Well, I think, when you see this all transpire, you can easily understand how people thought this was the end of the world because it seems far outside of the realms of nature. It seems supernatural. So you can see how people panicked that didn’t understand what was going on.

That was not your reaction?

No. I think it’s a sense of belonging — belonging to this incredible universe, both belonging and a humbleness that how minuscule we are. And yet we’re a part of this fantastic cosmic wheel of motion in the solar system. You almost get a three-dimensional sense of the motions of the Earth and the moon around the sun when you see this clockwork displayed right in front of you, this mechanics of the eclipse taking place.

It almost lifts you up off the planet, and you can look back down at the solar system and see how it’s all put together. And you’ve only got to, in that case — in that particular eclipse, it was only 2 and 1/2 minutes to look at this.

Wow. It’s kind of a clock in your head, saying, you don’t have much of this.

You don’t have much of it. And it almost seems like time stops.

And at the same time, all of a sudden, the eclipse is over. Those 2 minutes just raced by. And it’s over. All of a sudden, the diamond ring forms again on the opposite side of the moon, as the sun starts to become uncovered at the end of totality. And the diamond ring appears. It grows incredibly bright in just a few seconds. And you can’t look at it anymore. It’s too bright. You’ve got to put your filters back on and cover your telescope with a solar filter so it doesn’t get damaged. And you’re trembling because of this event.

Everybody was cheering and shouting and yelling. I mean, you would have thought you were at a sports game, and the home team just scored a touchdown. Just everybody screaming at the top of their lungs. And I immediately started thinking that this can’t be a once in a lifetime experience. I’ve got to see this again.

We’ll be right back.

OK. So, Fred, it’s the early 1970s. And you are not Mr. Eclipse yet. You’re just a kid who felt something very big when you watched an eclipse. So how did you end up becoming the premier authority that you now are on eclipses?

Well, after that 1970 eclipse, I started looking into upcoming solar eclipses so I could get a chance to see the sun’s corona again. And the next total eclipse was in Eastern Canada in July of 1972. And I started thinking about that eclipse. And by then, I was going to be in college.

And I started planning because that one was still something I could drive to. It was 1,200 miles instead of 600 miles.

So the summer of 1972 rolls around. And I drove up to the eclipse in Quebec to see totality and was unfortunately clouded out of the eclipse. I saw some of the partial phases. But clouds moved in and obscured the sun for that view of the sun’s corona.

You were robbed.

I was robbed. And I realized, well, I’ve got to expand my outlook on what’s an acceptable distance to travel to see a total eclipse because the next total eclipse then, in 1973, was through the Sahara Desert in Northern Africa. So I traveled to the Sahara desert for the eclipse, where we had decent weather, not perfect but decent weather. And we got to see totality there.

You saw totality in the desert?

In the desert. In the Sahara Desert. After that, it was just trying to get to every total eclipse I possibly could get to.

At this point, you’re clearly starting to become an eclipse chaser. And I don’t even know if such a thing existed at that moment.

Yeah. I don’t know if it was called that then, but certainly, yeah.

And if you’ll permit me a question that might seem maybe dopey to someone in your field, after you’ve seen one or two or three of these, do they start to blend in together and become a little bit the same?

Not at all. Each one is distinctly different. The sun itself is dramatically different. The sun’s corona is different at each eclipse because the corona is a product of the sun’s magnetic field. And that magnetic field is changing every day. So the details, the fine structure in the sun’s corona is always different. So every eclipse is dramatically different. The appearance of the sun’s corona.

Right. If you look at one Renoir, it’s not the same as the next one. You’re describing the corona of each eclipse as its own work of art, basically.

Exactly. Yeah.

So as you’re chasing these eclipses around the world, what is the place of an eclipse in your day-to-day academic studies and, soon enough, your professional work?

So I went to grad school at University of Toledo and did some work at Kitt Peak National Observatory, learning the ins and outs of photometric photometry — that is, measuring the brightness of stars. And eventually, this led to a job opening at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.

And I got interested in the idea of predicting eclipses and started studying the mathematics of how to do this. And I took it over unofficially and started publishing these technical maps and details. And we published about a dozen books through NASA on upcoming eclipses. People would just write me a letter and say they wanted a copy of the eclipse bulletin for such and such an eclipse. And I would stuff it in an envelope and mail it to them.

So you take it upon yourself to make sure that everyone is going to know when the next eclipse is coming?

And no doubt, during this period, you keep going to each and every eclipse. And I wonder which of them stand out to you.

Well, I’ve seen total eclipses from Australia, from Africa, from the Altiplanos in Bolivia, from the ice sheet on the coast of Antarctica, and even from Northern China, on the edge of the Gobi Desert. But one of the most notable eclipses for me was I traveled to India to see a 41-second eclipse, which was very short. And besides seeing a great eclipse in India, I also met my future wife there. She was on the same trip.

I have to hear that story.

Well, she had been trying to see a total eclipse for about 25 years.

She tried to see the 1970 eclipse. But her friends who were going to drive down from Pennsylvania down to North Carolina talked her out of it at the 11th hour.

They talked her out of seeing the same eclipse that was your first total eclipse that was so important to you?

Yes. And they talked her out of it because from Pennsylvania, they were going to have maybe a 90 percent eclipse. They didn’t know any better. They thought that was good enough. And she regretted that decision.

So then she said, OK, well, I’ve got to get to the next total eclipse, which was in Quebec in 1972, the same one that was my second eclipse. And we were probably within five miles of each other in Quebec. And we were both clouded out. Then she was married. She was raising kids. She got busy with domestic life for 20 years. She became a widow.

So now, 1995, there’s this 41-second eclipse in India that is very difficult to get to. It’s halfway around the world. But she’s still itching to see a total eclipse. And we joined the same expedition, a travel group, of 30 eclipse chasers and end up in India for the eclipse. And we have fantastic weather. It’s perfect.

She was in tears after totality. She had been waiting so long to see it. And we struck up a friendship on that trip. By the time the 1998 eclipse was taking place in the Caribbean, at that point, we were together. That was our first eclipse to observe as a couple. I think our wedding cake had a big eclipse on the top of the cake.

[LAUGHS]: Perfect.

We made a music CD for the wedding that we played during the reception. And of course, all the music on the CD had sun and moon themes to it.

Nothing I can say, a total eclipse of the heart

Of course, we had “Total Eclipse of the Heart.” It was a must-have.

Had to. Had to.

It strikes me, Fred, that eclipses are such an organizing principle in your life. Your life seems to literally orbit around them. When you were a kid, you started planning for them years in advance. This work becomes central to your career. It’s how you meet your wife.

And you said, when I asked you, about each eclipse that they’re all different. And obviously, you’re different at each eclipse because time has passed. Your life has changed. And it just feels like your life is being lived in a kind of ongoing conversation with this phenomenon of the sun and the moon overlapping.

Well, the eclipses are like benchmarks that I can use to figure out what else was going on in my life during these times, because I remember the dates of every single eclipse I’ve been to. And if I see a photograph of the solar corona shot during any particular eclipse, I know what eclipse that was. I can recognize the pattern of the corona like a fingerprint.

That’s amazing.

And I the year of the eclipse. It reminds me of when Pat and I got married and between which eclipse we were getting married and had to plan our wedding so it didn’t interfere with any kind of eclipse trips.

And they just serve as benchmarks or markers for the rest of my life of when various eclipses take place. So they’re easy for marking the passage of time.

So we are, of course, talking to you a few days before this year’s eclipse, which I cannot fathom you missing. So where are you planning to watch this total eclipse?

Pat and I are leaving for Mazatlán, Mexico, actually tomorrow. And we’ve got about 80 people joining us down in Mazatlán for this eclipse in our tour group.

And for you, of course, this year’s eclipse is just the latest in a very long line of eclipses. But I think, for the rest of us — and here, I’m thinking about myself — this is really going to be my first total eclipse, at least that I can remember. And for my two little kids, it’s absolutely going to be their first.

And given the hard-earned wisdom that you’ve accumulated in all your decades of chasing eclipses around the world, I wonder if you can give us just a little bit of advice for how to best live inside this very brief window of a total solar eclipse, to make sure, not to be cliche, but that we make it count.

Well, I think one mistake that people tend to make is getting preoccupied with recording everything in their lives, what they had for lunch, what they had for dinner. And seeing the eclipse is something that you want to witness firsthand. Try to be present in seeing the eclipse in the moment of it. So don’t get preoccupied with recording every instant of it.

Sit back and try to take in the entire experience because those several minutes pass by so rapidly. But you’ll replay them in your mind over and over and over again. And you don’t want technology getting between you and that experience. And remember to take your eclipse glasses off when totality begins. Note how dark it gets during totality.

Take the glasses off because?

Well, the glasses protect your eyes from the sun’s bright disk. But when totality begins, the sun’s bright disk is gone. So if you use your solar eclipse glasses to try to look at the corona, you won’t see anything. You’ll just see blackness. You’ve got to remove the eclipse glasses in order to see the corona. And it’s completely safe.

And it’s an incredible sight to behold. But during totality, you just want to look around without the glasses on. And take in the sights. Take in the horizon, 360 degrees, surrounding you with these twilight colors and sunset colors.

You’ll easily be able to see Jupiter and Venus shining on either side of the sun during totality. And look at the details in the sun’s corona, fine, wispy textures, and any possible red prominences hugging against the moon’s disk during totality.

And let’s say it’s now the moment of totality, and you, Mr. Eclipse, can whisper one thing into someone’s ear as they’re watching. What would you say to them?

Enjoy. Just take it all in.

Well, Fred, thank you very much. We really appreciate it.

No, thank you. I hope everybody has some clear sky.

After today, the next total solar eclipse to be visible from the continental United States will occur 20 years from now, in 2044. In other words, you might as well watch today’s.

Here’s what else you need to know today. Israel has fired two officers in connection with the deadly airstrike on aid workers from the World Central Kitchen who were killed last week while delivering food to civilians in Gaza. In a report released on Friday, Israel blamed their deaths on a string of errors made by the military. The airstrike, Israel said, was based on insufficient and incorrect evidence that a passenger traveling with the workers was armed.

Meanwhile, Israel said it withdrew a division of ground troops from Southern Gaza on Sunday, leaving no soldiers actively patrolling the area. The move raises questions about Israel’s strategy as the war drags into its sixth month. In particular, it casts doubt on Israel’s plans to invade Rafah, Gaza’s southernmost city, an invasion that the United States has asked Israel not to carry out for fear of large-scale civilian casualties.

Today’s episode was produced by Alex Stern and Sydney Harper, with help from Will Reid and Jessica Cheung. It was edited by Devon Taylor; fact-checked by Susan Lee; contains original music by Dan Powell, Marion Lozano, Elisheba Ittoop, and Corey Schreppel; and sound design by Elisheba Ittoop and Dan Powell. It was engineered by Chris Wood. Our theme music is by Jim Brunberg and Ben Landsverk of Wonderly. Special thanks to Anthony Wallace.

[THEME MUSIC]

That’s it for “The Daily.” I’m Michael Barbaro. See you tomorrow.

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• April 3, 2024   •   27:42 The Accidental Tax Cutter in Chief
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• April 1, 2024   •   36:14 Ronna McDaniel, TV News and the Trump Problem
• March 29, 2024   •   48:42 Hamas Took Her, and Still Has Her Husband
• March 28, 2024   •   33:40 The Newest Tech Start-Up Billionaire? Donald Trump.
• March 27, 2024   •   28:06 Democrats’ Plan to Save the Republican House Speaker
• March 26, 2024   •   29:13 The United States vs. the iPhone

Hosted by Michael Barbaro

Produced by Sydney Harper and Alex Stern

With Will Reid and Jessica Cheung

Edited by Devon Taylor

Original music by Dan Powell ,  Marion Lozano ,  Elisheba Ittoop and Corey Schreppel

Sound Design by Elisheba Ittoop and Dan Powell

Engineered by Chris Wood

Listen and follow The Daily Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music

Today, millions of Americans will have the opportunity to see a rare total solar eclipse.

Fred Espenak, a retired astrophysicist known as Mr. Eclipse, was so blown away by an eclipse he saw as a teenager that he dedicated his life to traveling the world and seeing as many as he could.

Mr. Espenak discusses the eclipses that have punctuated and defined the most important moments in his life, and explains why these celestial phenomena are such a wonder to experience.

On today’s episode

Fred Espenak, a.k.a. “Mr. Eclipse,” a former NASA astrophysicist and lifelong eclipse chaser.

Background reading

A total solar eclipse is coming. Here’s what you need to know.

Millions of people making plans to be in the path of the solar eclipse on Monday are expecting an awe-inspiring. What is that feeling?

The eclipse that ended a war and shook the gods forever.

There are a lot of ways to listen to The Daily. Here’s how.

We aim to make transcripts available the next workday after an episode’s publication. You can find them at the top of the page.

Fact-checking by Susan Lee .

Special thanks to Anthony Wallace.

The Daily is made by Rachel Quester, Lynsea Garrison, Clare Toeniskoetter, Paige Cowett, Michael Simon Johnson, Brad Fisher, Chris Wood, Jessica Cheung, Stella Tan, Alexandra Leigh Young, Lisa Chow, Eric Krupke, Marc Georges, Luke Vander Ploeg, M.J. Davis Lin, Dan Powell, Sydney Harper, Mike Benoist, Liz O. Baylen, Asthaa Chaturvedi, Rachelle Bonja, Diana Nguyen, Marion Lozano, Corey Schreppel, Rob Szypko, Elisheba Ittoop, Mooj Zadie, Patricia Willens, Rowan Niemisto, Jody Becker, Rikki Novetsky, John Ketchum, Nina Feldman, Will Reid, Carlos Prieto, Ben Calhoun, Susan Lee, Lexie Diao, Mary Wilson, Alex Stern, Dan Farrell, Sophia Lanman, Shannon Lin, Diane Wong, Devon Taylor, Alyssa Moxley, Summer Thomad, Olivia Natt, Daniel Ramirez and Brendan Klinkenberg.

Our theme music is by Jim Brunberg and Ben Landsverk of Wonderly. Special thanks to Sam Dolnick, Paula Szuchman, Lisa Tobin, Larissa Anderson, Julia Simon, Sofia Milan, Mahima Chablani, Elizabeth Davis-Moorer, Jeffrey Miranda, Renan Borelli, Maddy Masiello, Isabella Anderson and Nina Lassam.

Corey Schreppel leads the technical team that supports all Times audio shows, including “The Daily,” “Hard Fork,” “The Run-Up,” and “Modern Love.” More about Corey Schreppel

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