This helpful new tool may give you a better idea of where to go to watch the total solar eclipse.
The University of California, Berkeley teamed up with Google to create the Eclipse Megamovie Project, a new simulator that can show what the eclipse will look like from any location, including along the path of totality, which stretches across 11 states and goes up to 72 miles wide.
All you have to do is go to the website, enter the zip code or city you want to see, and you’ll receive an animation of the Sun in the sky over a three-hour time span. You’ll see whether you will stand in the path of totality on eclipse day, or alternatively how much of the Sun will disappear during the partial eclipse visible from other locations.
Dan Zevin, who is on the team leading the project at UC Berkeley’s Space Sciences Laboratory, said that while there are other eclipse simulators out there, this one is unique.
“There are lots of online animations of the 2017 eclipse, but you can’t use them like ours to get a sense of the full experience, including your surroundings,” Zevin said in a press release. “Our simulation is closer to what one might experience in a planetarium show.”
Get a better idea of what the eclipse will look like in your hometown or along the path of totality on August 21, 2017, at this link.
