Today’s Total Solar Eclipse is one of the shorter ones, lasting 2 minutes and 40 seconds.
If you’re in the USA, then 12 states lie along the path of Totality.
At 10:15 am Pacific Daylight Time (1:15 PM EST, 6:15 GMT), the Great American Eclipse will begin. The first total solar eclipse in history unique to the United States, it enters the country near Depoe Bay, Oregon, and, at 2:49 pm Eastern Daylight Time, exits outside McClellanville, South Carolina.
The best place to watch, of course, is within the totality band. But for those who don’t live in — or can’t get to — one of the 12 states the eclipse crosses, there’s always the internet.
Here’s a selection of places to watch the eclipse online (some may be slow to respond if a huge number of people worldwide are trying to watch online)…
1. NASA
NASA.gov/eclipselive will stream 10 live webcasts, each with a different angle: See the eclipse from the International Space Station. Watch ground footage from the point of greatest eclipse outside Hopkinsville, Kentucky. Catch the view from 11 international spacecraft. Or watch the eclipse from near-space: NASA Space Grant Consortium volunteers are launching 57 high-altitude balloons across the nation, each with its own Raspberry Pi camera.
NASA expects 100-500 million site hits, so as a backup, you can also catch the balloon webcast here: eclipse.stream.live
Catch NASA’s additional live coverage using any of the following:
NASA App
- NASA App for iOS
- NASA App for Android
- NASA App for Amazon Fire and Fire TV
- The NASA App also is available to Apple TV users.
Social Media
2. Night Sky Observer (This Site)
3. Eclipse Watch Parties
Public libraries across the USA are holding eclipse watch parties. Locations outside totality will stream NASA’s total eclipse broadcast and also host live viewing areas for a partial solar eclipse. You can find the closest eclipse party to you on organizer STAR_Net’s website.
No participating library in town? Then go to a NASA Museum Alliance or NASA Night Sky Network party instead.
4. Social Media
200 million Americans live within a day’s drive of totality, so the Great American Eclipse will be all over Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. The official hashtag is #eclipse2017. As soon as the event is over, Eclipse Megamovie will compile everyone’s smartphone footage into a continuous video showing the solar eclipse from start to finish. Watch their replay here: https://eclipsemega.movie
5. Astronomy Magazine
See what the eclipse looks like on the ground from Denver, Colorado. Astronomy Magazine will have its own 4K webcast right here on this site.
Astronomy is running the livestream at this alternate web address too: Eclipse 4K Live Stream
Recording the Eclipse
A Total Solar Eclipse is best experience first-hand rather than through your camera but if you do want to record it, here are some useful tips.
Filed under: The Sun
