Experience a Total Solar Eclipse via Live Webcast from China on Aug. 1st!
A total solar Eclipse begins at 6:09 pm China time near the windswept high grasslands northeast of the small hamlet of Yiwu, about two hours north of Hami in the Xinjiang province of China. As in the total solar eclipses of 1999, 2001, and 2006, a team of Exploratorium and NASA heliophysics experts will capture and broadcast the Eclipse live from yet another specially chosen international locale. Like the Olympics, the thrills of live viewership can still be yours even if you can’t travel to China for this major celestial event. Thanks to satellite technology, you can watch it from your planetarium or local museum -- or even from home at your computer screen.
Site of Eclipse webcast in Yiwu, Xinjiang, China
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Four specially-equipped solar telescopes will be trained on the Sun, providing a continuous 2.25 hour video feed of the eclipse from the Moon’s first contact with the Sun’s fiery edge, to totality -- including the blazing “diamond ring effect,” to last contact as the Moon departs. The Exploratorium will also provide one hour of lively educational programming. NASA and Exploratorium scientists will explain the mechanics of an eclipse, observe unique features of the Sun, and fill you in on the Sun’s dynamic nature— the source of sometimes threatening and turbulent “space weather.” The telescopes and the local program will be uplinked to a satellite over China, and the video streamed from the Exploratorium’s website to your computer, museum, or planetarium.
NASA’s Sun-Earth Connection Education Forum is the co-host and partner in this event. If you’re an astronomy educator who would like to link to the satellite feed of the live solar eclipse and the accompanying program, please go to the websites below to learn more and sign up for updates and program ideas.
Join all citizens of Earth in awe as the Sun and Moon perform their own celestial Olympics!
Websites (will keep being updated as the date approaches):
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