On April 8, parts of North America will briefly go dark due to a total solar eclipse – when the moon, passing in front of the sun, will block out all light. The last time this happened was in 2017, and it won’t happen again until 2044. It’s a moment you won’t want to miss – even if you don’t have the essential and safe eclipse glasses.
From 2:00 PM EST to 4:00 PM EST on April 8 Twitch and NASA will provide live coverage of the celestial event as a “dynamic way to see this moment as part of a larger community.” The NASA livestream of the actual solar eclipse will be streamed at the same time Minecraft And Fortnite streamers playing “eclipse-themed versions of Fortnite And Minecraft“, according to a press release. (Earlier this year, NASA and the National Esports Association teamed up for a game jam asking students to create game simulations of the solar eclipse, NASA said on its website.)
The exact timing of the solar eclipse – and its totality (or period when the moon completely blocks the sun) – depends on where you live. NASA said the first continental North American location to reach totality is “the Pacific coast of Mexico around 11:07 a.m. PDT.” The eclipse’s path moves across the continent from there until it leaves “continental North America on the Atlantic coast of Newfoundland, Canada, at 5:16 PM NDT,” according to NASA. For example, viewers on the East Coast in Burlington, Vermont will reach totality at 3:26 PM EST. There is a full timeline on the NASA website. Of course, if you look online, you’ll see footage from all over North America from 2:00 PM EST to 4:00 PM EST.
Here are the details from Twitch:
What: Twitch hosts NASA and Epic Games/Microsoft in partnership with the National Esports Association
Where: Tune Twitch.tv/nasa
When: Live on April 8 from 2:00 PM EST to 4:00 PM EST