Family Resources for Learning and Viewing

NASA Science

How the 2024 Total Solar Eclipse Is Different than the 2017 Eclipse

In August 2017, an estimated 215 million U.S. adults viewed the solar eclipse, either directly or electronically. The eclipse in 2024 will occur with differences in the path, timing, and scientific research. Click the link to learn more about this exciting upcoming event.

Try the Solar Eclipse Safety Activity — Primary Students

This activity explains the construction of extended coverage eclipse glasses with paper plates to provide extra protection for safely viewing a solar eclipse. Extended coverage viewers are safer because it is more difficult to look outside the lenses on the eclipse glasses.

Put Your Eyes on the Solar System

A 3D visualization of the 2024 total eclipse is built with real science data and shows the shadow of the moon on Earth. Select your view: Earth, behind the moon, Earth-moon, or sun-Earth-moon.

Experiment with Pinhole and Optical Projection

Learn how to do pinhole projection. With the sun behind you, pass sunlight through a small opening (for example, a hole punched in an index card) and project a solar image onto a nearby surface (for example, another card, a wall, or the ground). A pasta colander makes a terrific pinhole projector, as does a straw hat or anything else with a bunch of small holes in it.

2024 Eclipse Simulator

Use an Eclipse Simulator

Preview the 2024 eclipse from Kansas City in this simulator. The simulator can also be changed to simulate viewing from other locations.

Exploratorium

Watch via Livestream

View past livestreams of solar eclipses. On April 8, 2024, at 12 p.m. CDT, watch live images from their telescopes in Torreón, Mexico without commentary or interruptions.

Discover The Science of Eclipses

Discover more about eclipses with videos from scientists. Topics include: What is a Solar Eclipse? What are the Three Types of Solar Eclipses? What is a Lunar Eclipse? Why don't we have an eclipse every month? How can the Moon Cover the Sun?

Great American Eclipse

See Animations of the Total Solar Eclipse, April 8, 2024

Animations simulate the view from a spacecraft 100 miles high that is chasing the eclipse from Mazatlan to Newfoundland, another showing the moon's shadow arcing across the Pacific, then traversing North America and ending at sunset not far from Spain; a map of totality; and more.

View Maps of the Total Solar Eclipse over the United States on April 8, 2024

Maps on this site feature the total solar eclipse over the United States, with answers to many questions. See an animation of the moon's shadow racing across the United States with data.

How Animals React To An Eclipse

Scientists observed the behaviors of animals in the path of the 2017 eclipse and recorded observations they made of the animals' behavior. The links below allow you to explore a bit of what they found.

Animal Behavior During Solar Eclipses: Fact or Fiction?

Report from the Celestron on a study of seventeen animal species at the Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia, South Carolina.

How Our Animals Reacted to the Solar Eclipse

Report from the Nashville Zoo on the behavior of birds and mammals.

What do plants and animals do during an eclipse?

A collection of observations from various locations by Science News Journal.