Got Clouds? How to Watch Today's Total Solar Eclipse Online

Today, skywatchers across Due north America will have the privilege of watching the moon dial the sun correct in its smug face, visually speaking.

The eclipse will be visible in some grade to all of North America. BUT if it happens to be cloudy where you are, don't fret; there are plenty of options to watch online!

Cloudy With a Chance of Disappointment

Unfortunately, even if you lot did all the proper preparation and traveled to a location forth the path of totality, you won't be able to see anything if the sky is cloudy. Just if the conditions gods aren't participating, you lot tin still experience the event along with everyone else by watching online.

The Weather Aqueduct and Twitter will be teaming upwards to offer alive eclipse coverage here get-go at apex ET.
NASA volition offer live-stream coverage on Facebook Live, YouTube, Periscope, Twitch, and Ustream. Information technology has 55 teams across the nation to offer live streams of the eclipse all along its path from high-altitude balloons. Clouds be damned!
Crowdsourced astronomy organization Slooh will be offering a alive stream along with expert commentary on its website and through Facebook.

Where'd the Dominicus Go At present?

By cosmological chance, the apparent size of the total moon as seen from the surface of the Earth is juuuuust about the aforementioned as the apparent size of sun. During a total solar eclipse, the sunday is virtually entirely blocked by the moon, with just its outer rim peeking over the sides. Witnessing a total solar eclipse alive promises to exist a striking experience.

Observing a "totality" (i.e. when the entirety of the sun is covered) will only be available to a narrow slice on the ground (the function of the surface fortunate enough to autumn under the umbra—the central, darkest part of the moon'due south shadow). Nevertheless, a far larger swath of the continent will autumn nether the moon'southward vast penumbra, the lighter shadow that surrounds the umbra. Inside the penumbra, ground viewers will see the moon appear to accept a bite out of the sun. That bite will seem larger or smaller depending on how shut or far the viewer is to the umbra'south path, respectively.

Total Eclipse August 2022

The Baronial 2022 "All-American" solar eclipse's path. (Credit: Wolfgang Strickling / Wikipedia)

Dissimilar lunar eclipses, which include a sprawling viewing area, solar eclipses are highly localized events. The moon'south shadow will zip across at speeds between ane,500 and 2,410mph, cut a clear path from the northwest to the southeast. Even earlier factoring in time zones, dissimilar locations will experience the eclipse at different times.

For example, the eclipse will begin at 9:05 a.m. PT (12:05 p.thousand. ET) in Salem Oregon; 11:58 a.m. CT (12:58 p.m. ET) in Nashville, Tennessee; and 1:16 p.m. ET in Charleston, S Carolina. The entire global eclipse event volition accept place over v.5 hours with unlike locations experiencing various stages along the style. The website TimeAndDate.com has local information on the eclipse where you live based on your computer'due south location (or you lot tin search past location in a box in the site's pinnacle-correct corner).

Due to the curve of the Earth, the length of the eclipse volition vary from one to 2 hours. The maximum point of the eclipse volition occur in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, at one:25 p.m. CT (2:25 p.thou. ET) and will last for two minutes and 40 seconds.

While the eclipse volition be cool to lookout, call back not to stare at it with your naked eyes over a prolonged amount of fourth dimension. If you didn't follow any of our eclipse-viewing advice in advanced, then you can always safely continue track with a pin-pigsty viewer.

If you miss this full solar eclipse for ane reason or another (or the weather condition gods simply aren't cooperating), proceed in mind that they occur adequately ofttimes elsewhere on the planet. If yous're an astronomy and travel buff, the adjacent one is slated to cut a swath beyond the Southward Pacific and through South America on July ii, 2022.