Eclipse starter guide

The total solar eclipse is happening on Monday, April 8, 2024, and starts at 11:07AM PT. This is a rare occurrence and is not one to be missed as the next opportunity in the contiguous United States doesn't happen for another 20 years.

Over the course of about an hour, viewers in 15 states across the United States will experience up to four and half minutes of darkness when the Moon moves fully in front of the Sun, revealing the Sun's faint outer atmosphere: the corona. Outside of the path of totality, people in the contiguous United States will have the opportunity to see a partial eclipse, when the Moon covers only a portion of the Sun. Learn how to safely view this celestial event on NASA's eclipse website.

NASA is joining with scientific and transportation agencies to engage the public, share safety information, and conduct science during the upcoming total solar eclipse.

When watching the partial phases of the solar eclipse directly with your eyes, which happens before and after totality, you must look through safe solar viewing glasses (“eclipse glasses”) or a safe handheld solar viewer at all times. Eclipse glasses are NOT regular sunglasses; regular sunglasses, no matter how dark, are not safe for viewing the Sun. Safe solar viewers are thousands of times darker and ought to comply with the ISO 12312-2 international standard. NASA does not approve any particular brand of solar viewers.

Always inspect your eclipse glasses or handheld viewer before use; if torn, scratched, or otherwise damaged, discard the device. Always supervise children using solar viewers.

Do NOT look at the Sun through a camera lens, telescope, binoculars, or any other optical device while wearing eclipse glasses or using a handheld solar viewer — the concentrated solar rays will burn through the filter and cause serious eye injury.

If you don’t have eclipse glasses or a handheld solar viewer, you can use an indirect viewing method, which does not involve looking directly at the Sun. One way is to use a pinhole projector, which has a small opening (for example, a hole punched in an index card) and projects an image of the Sun onto a nearby surface. With the Sun at your back, you can then safely view the projected image. Do NOT look at the Sun through the pinhole!