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How to Watch the Eclipse Online if You’re Stuck Indoors (or It’s Cloudy)

An annular solar eclipse as the sun set behind the Rocky Mountains, seen from downtown Denver in May 2012.Credit...David Zalubowski/Associated Press

You’re all set to watch the eclipse on the 21st: You have all the gear you need, maybe you even took the day off to travel. But then the clouds roll in, or you’re stuck indoors at work without windows.

All isn’t lost. There are plenty of places you can stream the eclipse online if you’re in no position to see it with your own eyes — and you might even get a better view.

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Eclipse viewing times, organized by city where totality will be visible.Credit...NASA

The first thing you’ll need to know is when you should pay attention to the events happening in the sky. This chart from NASA runs down when the eclipse begins and ends, along with when totality (those precious minutes where the moon completely covers the sun, and day turns into night) begins and ends, for each time zone in the United States. This way you’ll know exactly when to pop outdoors or go up to the roof to catch the event.

For example, if you’re on the West Coast of the United States, you might want to grab your eclipse glasses or goggles and head outside just after 9 a.m. Pacific, but definitely make sure you don’t miss totality around 10:19 a.m. if you live far enough north to see it. Those of us on the East Coast, however, should make sure to head outside just after 1 p.m. Eastern and pay close attention around 2:30 p.m.

If you’re still unsure what you’ll be able to see and when, check out NASA’s interactive map here.

If you’re stuck indoors, the weather is absolutely terrible, or you live where you won’t get to see even a partial eclipse, you can enjoy the action virtually instead.

NASA will stream the event live on a number of platforms, including its official Facebook, Periscope, Twitch and UStream pages, as well as on NASA TV and the official NASA YouTube channel. You can even download the official NASA apps for iPhone and Android and watch the eclipse on your phone or tablet.

For a bird’s-eye view of the event, students from the Eclipse Ballooning Project, a collaborative group of high school students, colleges, research universities and NASA scientists, are planning to send 57 cameras up on weather balloons to observe the eclipse at high altitude and hand off to one another over the course of the day at eclipse.stream.live, and on NASA TV.

The Exploratorium in San Francisco will stream the eclipse as well in both English and Spanish, and if you aren’t near a computer screen, their Total Solar Eclipse app for iPhone and Android will also feature live streams from multiple locations along the path of totality. Similarly, the Smithsonian Institution offers the Smithsonian Eclipse 2017 app for iPhone and Android that’s full of useful information to read leading up to and through the event.

Slooh, an internet-connected telescope service that partners with observatories around the world, will stream the eclipse live from a telescope in Stanley, Idaho, which is right in the path of totality.

CNN will air the eclipse live on TV, and also stream the event on its website. The Science Channel will stream the eclipse on its Facebook page.

This way even if you miss totality in one location, you can see it in another, and experience the eclipse over and over as it travels across the continental United States.

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