Want to see a total solar eclipse every day? With a new online tool called Eclipse Watch, you can watch the Sun’s outer atmosphere, or corona, in real-time with eclipse-like images from space as we count down to the next total solar eclipse on Earth.

Eclipse Watch’s new Helioviewer data visualization tool displays images taken by the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), a joint NASA-ESA (European Space Agency) mission located one million miles from Earth. Every time you refresh the page you can see the latest image of the spaceship. These images show some of the features of the Sun that you can also see from Earth during a total solar eclipse when the Moon completely covers the Sun.

A total solar eclipse occurs when the Moon comes between the Sun and the Earth, completely covering the face of the Sun. This celestial event reveals the Sun’s extensive atmosphere, normally hidden by bright sunlight. During this time, you can observe the flow of hot gas from the Sun’s surface into interplanetary space.

To examine the Sun’s expanding atmosphere when a total solar eclipse does not occur, scientists can use special telescopes called coronagraphs. These instruments create an artificial eclipse by using a circular disk to block light from the sun (just like the moon does during an eclipse), showing parts of the sun’s atmosphere that are normally too dim to see.

Helioviewer Eclipse Watch provides eclipse-like images captured more than a hundred times each day by the Large Angle and Spectrometric Coronagraph Experiment (LASCO) instrument on the SOHO spacecraft. LASCO observes the Sun’s corona and can identify clouds of material, called coronal mass ejections, exploding from the Sun.

These images give a glimpse of what you might have seen during the historic celestial event on April 8. The LASCO disk covers a larger area than the Moon would during a total solar eclipse, as indicated by the black circular area in the Eclipse Tracker. A moon image is superimposed on the image for scaling purposes. This means that during a total eclipse on Earth, you’ll see much more of the Sun’s expanding atmosphere than is recorded by LASCO.

SOHO was launched in 1995 to study our star from the Sun’s deep core to its outer corona. LASCO is one of 12 instruments used at SOHO to study various solar regions and the constant flow of particles and energy from the Sun, called the solar wind. SOHO images also revealed thousands of comets flying close to the Sun, called “solar comets.”

Countdown to blackout

On April 8, 2024, a total solar eclipse will pass over Mexico, the United States, and Canada. In the United States, the path of integrity stretches from Texas to Maine.

The countdown timer displayed on the eclipse tracking page shows when the eclipse will begin in North America on April 8.

If you’re on the path to totality, your eclipse views may be similar to, or even better than, the images LASCO captures every day. Be sure to use special eye protection for observing the Sun, except during the brief total phase of a total solar eclipse when the Moon completely covers the Sun.

Helio viewer

Eclipse Watch is an extension of Helioviewer, a free and open-source visualization tool provided by NASA’s Solar Data Analysis Center. It’s like using your favorite mapping app for the sun. Users choose spacecraft instruments and create their own movies about solar events.