All the Apps and Equipment You Need to Have the Best Solar Eclipse Experience
If you’re lucky enough to be in the narrow band of country stretching from Maine to Texas at the designated hour, you’ll be able to see the total eclipse on April 8, but everyone in the lower 48 will be able to see it. see something cool (unless it’s cloudy). The experience can be enhanced with technology and I have suggestions on what to buy or download for your big day.
First, it’s important to understand the dangers: You’d think that by now everyone would know enough not to look directly at a solar eclipse, but some people just haven’t learned to do so . So, for reference: looking directly at the Sun without special eye protection is unsafe. You won’t be able to look at it through a camera lens, binoculars, or telescope without risking serious eye injury unless you have a special solar filter over the optics.
Apps to help you watch the solar eclipse
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NASA Eclipse Explorer : Your tax dollars funded this interactive eclipse map that allows you to enter your zip code and find out exactly when the eclipse will start, how it will progress, and when it will end.
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Totality 3.0: This eclipse app is provided free of charge and without advertising by the American Astronomical Society. It will tell you the best time to view the eclipse in your area and even provide you with offline maps. It is available for both iPhone and Android .
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Solar Eclipse Timer : This app alerts you via voice command to the start of each eclipse phase at your location based on your phone’s GPS. It is available for iPhone and Android .
A device that will help you watch a solar eclipse
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Polarized glasses . The most inexpensive option is polarized glasses made of cardboard ; they work, but they look silly and awkward, so be the coolest person you can during the eclipse with something like these plastic Bookishbunny solar eclipse viewing devices . If you want to go for a more expensive option, check out these Halo goggles ; And if you want polarized paper glasses absolutely free , visit Warby Parker after April 1st and they’ll give you some.
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Binoculars : You won’t need these to see the eclipse, but if you want to get a closer look at the moon’s shadow as it passes over the sun, binoculars are fine. Meade Instruments EclipseView binoculars have detachable solar filters, so you can use them like regular binoculars once the eclipse is over.
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Telescope: . This Celestron telescope has a permanently attached solar filter so you won’t go blind, and it retails for $109.95. At the other end of the price spectrum is the Explore Scientific ED80 Essential Series Telescopic Triplet Refractor. It retails from the manufacturer for $999.
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Phone filter . If you’re going to take photos of the eclipse with your phone, invest in a filter for your camera. Failure to do so will damage your equipment, and iPhone solar filters are inexpensive. Here’s a pack of five for 20 bucks.
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Tripod : The eclipse will be photographed by better photographers than you, with better equipment than you, so I think you should just enjoy the moment; but if you need to take a photo, set your phone on a tripod to prevent the photo from being blurry, and use a timer to keep the camera still when it turns off.
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Projector obscura. If you want to look super cool on eclipse day, get a pinhole projector. The American Astronomical Society has a page dedicated to all the different types of pinhole projectors you can make, and there’s still plenty of time until the day of the eclipse to complete the project. Or you can buy a wooden one .
To learn more about the eclipse, check out our guide on how to see the eclipse if you’re unprepared and how to view the eclipse safely .