How to Watch This Week's Partial Solar Eclipse Online
A partial solar eclipse will occur on the morning of October 25. Here's how you can watch it.
A solar eclipse is an exciting event. Eclipses inspire people to chase them for that relatively rare opportunity to see the moon blot out the sun’s light.
On October 25, a partial solar eclipse will occur. Unfortunately for stargazers in North America, this partial eclipse is only visible in parts of Europe, western Asia, and northeast Africa. You can, however, watch the eclipse online. Time and Date has a map that shows the exact path of the moon's shadow.
During a partial eclipse, the moon and sun are not perfectly aligned from our perspective on the Earth's surface. If they were aligned, we would get a total solar eclipse. Instead of turning the day into night this week, it looks like a bite has been taken out of the sun.
How to stream the partial solar eclipse
There are multiple options to stream the eclipse. The Royal Observatory Greenwich is hosting a live stream on its YouTube channel, which starts at 5:05 am ET. Its team will include "detailed telescope footage and expert astronomy commentary" as part of the event.
The team at Time and Date will also host a live stream. Its stream will also be on YouTube, with coverage kicking off at 4:30 am ET. The stream will have fewer frills based on its description. Nonetheless, it will be running a live blog with details about the eclipse.
When is the solar eclipse?
The partial solar eclipse will start on October 25 at 4:58 am ET, per Space.com. That's when the moon first starts to block our view of the sun. It will continue until 9:01 am. It will reach its maximum at 7 am, per Time and Date.
Throughout that time, the moon will pass between Earth and the sun, casting a shadow onto the Earth's surface. This is the second (and last) partial eclipse we will experience in 2022.
If you miss this one, you will have to wait until April for your next opportunity to spot a solar eclipse. A total solar eclipse will occur on April 20, 2023, with totality falling across parts of Australia, East Timor, Damar Island, and Papua in Indonesia.
Ready to go stargazing?
Here are all the best stargazing events that you can get out and see this month or you could stay in a stream the northern lights from home. If you're just getting started, check out our guide to astronomy for beginners or easy stargazing road trips from big US cities.