Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Space
  3. News

The first views of the eclipse are coming in, and they’re stunning

By

Eclipse mania is gripping swaths of the U.S. as today is the day that a total solar eclipse passes across the country from Texas to Maine. The eclipse began in Mexico at 2:07 p.m. ET and is sweeping up and across the U.S., with plenty of excellent views despite concerns about the weather in many places.

NASA is live-streaming views of the eclipse captured from various locations along the path of totality, which is a great way to enjoy the event if you are outside the region where it is visible.

2024 Total Solar Eclipse: Through the Eyes of NASA (Telescope Feed)

Views of the eclipse so far have been shown from Mexico, Arkansas, Texas, Illinois, and Ohio. The eclipse will soon hit the northeastern part of the country, with Pennsylvania, New York, and New England eclipses coming up shortly.

Still from the NASA livestream of the total eclipse in Russellville, Arkansas on March 8, 2024.
A still image from the NASA live stream of the total eclipse in Russellville, Arkansas, on March 8, 2024. NASA TV

If you’re heading out to watch the eclipse in person, be sure to be safe and use eclipse glasses or make a pinhole camera to observe the eclipse indirectly. If you are in the path of totality, you can take your eclipse glasses off once the sun is fully eclipsed, but make sure to put them back on as soon as the sun starts to brighten again.

Recommended Videos

If you are outside the path of totality and are seeing a partial eclipse, then you should keep your eclipse glasses on the entire time. Also, don’t try to observe the eclipse using a camera, binoculars, or a telescope unless you have special equipment for doing so. NASA has more advice on how to stay safe and enjoy the event.

Please enable Javascript to view this content

Eclipses happen when the moon passes between the Earth and the sun, temporarily blocking out the sun’s light. During this time, you can see the sun’s atmosphere, or corona, and scientists use this opportunity to observe the stellar atmosphere and learn more about the sun.

Related

An eclipse is total when the moon totally covers the face of the sun, making it dark and cold for a few minutes in the middle of the day. This tends to cause unusual natural activity, with animals changing their behavior and weather systems being disrupted as well. If you are observing the eclipse, NASA requests that you make note of any effects that you see on wildlife and other natural phenomena to assist with research into the topic.

The last major eclipse in the U.S. was in August 2017, when a total solar eclipse was visible across 14 states. There won’t be another eclipse that covers this much of the U.S. until 2044, as today’s path of totality is 115 miles wide, with 32 million people in the U.S. living within the path.

Editors’ Recommendations

Topics
Georgina Torbet
Georgina Torbet
Space Writer
Georgina has been the space writer at Digital Trends space writer for six years, covering human space exploration, planetary…
Psyche spacecraft sends data back to Earth using lasers for the first time
NASA’s Psyche spacecraft is shown in a clean room at the Astrotech Space Operations facility near the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Dec. 8, 2022. DSOC’s gold-capped flight laser transceiver can be seen, near center, attached to the spacecraft.

NASA's experimental laser communication system, riding along with the Psyche spacecraft, has hit another milestone. The system was recently used to transmit Psyche data from over 140 million miles (226 million kilometers) away.

The system, called Deep Space Optical Communications, or DSOC, has previously been used to send test data and even to send a video of a cat, to test whether using laser communications in addition to the usual radio communications is possible. But as this is technology is experimental, the Psyche spacecraft has its own radio communications system it has been using to transmit its science data. Now, though, DSOC has been able to interface with the Psyche systems and send Psyche engineering data back to Earth as well.

Read more
See what the solar eclipse looked like from space
The Moon’s shadow, or umbra, is pictured from the space station as it orbited into the path of the solar eclipse on April 8, 2024.

This week's total solar eclipse wowed people across Northern America, but it wasn't only here on Earth that this special cosmic phenomenon was enjoyed. The astronauts on board the International Space Station (ISS) also caught a stunning glimpse of the eclipse, and NASA has shared some images showing what a space-eye view of an eclipse looks like.

The moon’s shadow, or umbra, on earth was visible from the International Space Station as it orbited into the path of the solar eclipse over southeastern Canada on April 8, 2024. NASA

Read more
Total solar eclipse: NASA’s most important piece of advice
A total solar eclipse.

North America is just hours away from Monday’s total solar eclipse when the moon will come between the sun and Earth, dramatically dimming natural daylight along a 115-wide path of totality from Maine to Texas.

Millions of people are expected to witness the celestial phenomenon, with many making their way from across the U.S. -- and beyond -- to a place inside the path of totality where the effect of the eclipse will be at its most prominent.

Read more