It’s time for the 2017 total solar eclipse! Don’t miss it the Aug. 21 — watch a free live stream of the eclipse online.
Only a select few Americans will experience a total solar eclipse on Aug. 21, as the path of totality is only 70 miles wide. Sure, the rest of the continental United States will experience some part of an eclipse, but for those who are itching to watch the moon completely cover the sun, there’s hope. NASA will have two options for celestial fans and eclipse fanatics to watch online, according to Vox. First, NASA Television will air a four-hour show, Eclipse Across America, with an “unprecedented live video of the event.” Coverage will begin at 12: 00 PM ET, and can be accessed through Facebook Live, YouTube, Twitter, and the official Livestream Page .
NASA EDGE will also have a live stream available. This four-and-a-half-hour live stream will feature a 30-minute live webcast of the total solar eclipse from outside Saluki Stadium in Carbondale, Illinois. This coverage will also include interviews with scientists, a chance to connect via social media, educational activities and plenty of telescope feeds. That coverage begins at 11: 45 AM EDT.
If a person didn’ t get an approved pair of solar eclipse glasses, then they better just watch the live stream. It is absolutely dangerous to look at the solar eclipse without glasses, according to Quartz. A person can suffer “direct thermal injury” from near-infrared radiation, meaning that looking at the eclipse could literally burn a person’s eye. As bad at that sounds, that’s not the worst thing that could happen if someone looks at the eclipse with their naked eye.
A person can suffer photochemical toxicity. As light passes through the eye, a chemical process inside the organ generates free radicals and “reactive oxygen species.” This is fine, as it’s part of the normal process, but if someone stares at the sun during an eclipse, they basically crank things up to 11. An excess of those free radical atoms can destroy a person’s retinal tissue. Even if someone looks at the sun for a few seconds, the damage could last forever.
Are you excited for the 2017 total solar eclipse, HollywoodLifers?
