What You Need to Know to Watch the August 21 Solar Eclipse

August 21, 2017, is the first time in almost 100 years a total solar eclipse will be visible from coast to coast in the United States. You’ll need to find the right places to see the eclipse in totality, so The Mac Observer put together the resources you need to find where to go, how to track the eclipse, and how to keep your eyes safe, too.

What you need to know to watch the Aug 21 solar eclipse

What’s a Solar Eclipse?

As the Moon orbits Earth it occasionally passes between us and the sun. The Moon blocks the light from the sun and for a few minutes and the temperature drops as if it’s night for a few minutes. That’s a solar eclipse.

The August 21st eclipse will track diagonally across the continental United States from the north west to south east. You’ll be able to see if from everywhere—assuming there isn’t cloud cover—but to see the full eclipse you need to be in a narrow band that runs from Oregon to South Carolina.

Eclipse Safety

Watching the solar eclipse isn’t, however, as simple as looking to the sky. In fact, that’s a really good way to permanently damage your eyes or even go blind. Here are my eclipse watching safety tips:

• Never look directly at the sun. Never, never, never. That’s how you go blind.


• Sunglasses won’t protect your eyes from an eclipse.


• Use a pinhole projector or eclipse-rated eye protection when viewing the event.


• Never look directly at the sun.


• And never look directly at the sun.

Eclipse Websites

NASA Eclipse 101 Nasa’s eclipse webpage is loaded with details about the event, including scientific and astronomical information, maps, and an excellent collection of safety tips.

NASA’s solar eclipse website

Eclipse2017.org The Eclipse2017.org website has lots of great info, but my favorite part is the excellent collection of maps showing the path of totality. They even have maps for each state so you can easily see which counties will have the best viewing experience.

Space.com I’m not a fan of the giant ads on Space.com’s site, but I love the full-country map detailing the eclipse path. The killer feature on their eclipse page is the chart showing eclipse times for various cities in the path of totality.

Interactive Eclipse Map Xavier Jubier’s Google Maps project shows the eclipse path and shows you details for any place you click. It also has a search feature so you can enter a city name or coordinates and see that location’s event details.

See eclipse details for any location in your browser

Next up: Eclipse apps and viewing gear

How to Track and Watch the Solar Eclipse

You can see the Moon completely block the sun during the eclipse, but only if you’re in the right place. Otherwise, the sun will be only partially covered so it looks like a crescent. The farther away you get from the path of totality, the Moon will cover less of the sun.

With the right apps you can figure out how much of the eclipse you’ll see from where you are, and you can find a better place to watch if you want. You’ll also need the right equipment to protect your eyes and safely view the eclipse.

Eclipse Apps

Solar Eclipse Timer My favorite app for tracking the solar eclipse is Solar Eclipse Timer from Gordon Telepun. The app tells you how much of the eclipse you’ll see from your current location and acts like your personal guide through the event. It also shows the actual eclipse times for your exact location. Bonus: It includes an Apple Watch app so you don’t miss any details before and during the event. Solar Eclipse Timer costs US$2.99.

Solar Eclipse 2017 by dateandtime.com Date and Time’s Solar Eclipse 2017 app gives you times and locations, visibility maps, animations showing what the eclipse will look like from the ground, and includes general eclipse information, too. Solar Eclipse 2017 is a free download, and a $0.99 in-app purchase removes the ads.

Solar Eclipse Timer (left) and Solar Eclipse 2017 (right) let you track the event on your iPhone

Eclipse Safari With Eclipse Safari you can track the eclipse location, view an eclipse map, watch a countdown timer, look up related information from Space.com, and stay on top of eclipse news. Eclipse Safari is a free download on the App Store.

Eclipse Gear

Celestron EclipSmart 2x Power Viewers Solar Observing Kit Let’s get this safety tip right out there: Don’t look directly at the eclipse because you’ll permanently damage your eyes and could go blind.

If you’re going to try to observe the eclipse you need proper eye protection, and my favorite is the EclipSmart 2x Power Viewers Solar Observing Kit from Celestron. It’s ISO-12312-2 compliant, which means the lenses are designed to protect your eyes from the eclipse light. The lenses also offer 2x magnification, plus the kit includes an eclipse map, time tables, and eclipse facts. It’s $9.95 on Amazon and I expect it to be on backorder very soon.

Celestron’s EclipSmart solar observing kit

If you find other eclipse viewing glasses you like better, or at least are in stock, make sure they’re ISO-12312-2 compliant. Otherwise you’re risking damaging your eyes.

Pinhole Projectors The tried-and-true way to watch eclipses without damaging your eyes is to make a pinhole projector. They’re easy and cheap to make since all you need is a box, a sheet of white paper, some aluminum foil, and a pin. The Time and Date website has great instructions on how to make one. Date and Time has great instructions on how to make one.

I’ve made even simpler pinhole projectors by punching a pinhole into one sheet of paper and aiming it at another. Just remember to always face away from the sun when you’re using a pinhole projector.

Where to Find Solar Eclipse Protective Eyewear

American Astronomical Society Getting your hands on solar eclipse glasses and other filters is no easy task the closer we get to the big day. The AAS is hoping to help some with its excellent list of companies making ISO-12312-2 certified glasses, plus they have a list of retailers you can check with to see if any are in stock.

Museums Check with your local museums because many have been selling ISO-compliant eclipse glasses for just a few dollars.

Libraries Many public libraries across the United States are giving away ISO-compliant glasses as part of their eclipse viewing events. Check with yours to see if they have any for for non-event viewers. You can also see which libraries are hosting events at the Space Science Institute’s Star_Net website.

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