How and When to See the Partial Solar Eclipse This Weekend

This weekend, skywatchers in parts of the world will experience a special daytime show.

A partial solar eclipse will begin Sunday, September 21 at 1:29 p.m. EDT, with the maximum eclipse phase—when the moon covers the largest portion of the sun—occurring at 3:41 p.m. EDT, according to Space.com. The event will last until 5:53 p.m. EDT.

A partial solar eclipse takes place when the moon is directly between the Earth and sun and is blocking a portion of, but not the totality of, the sun.

According to Time and Date, only 16.6 million people live in areas around the Southern Hemisphere where at least part of the solar eclipse will be visible, and unfortunately that doesn’t include the U.S. The best places to see it will be in Antarctica and New Zealand. The point of greatest eclipse—where 80 percent of the sun will be blocked by the moon—will occur in a remote part of the far South Pacific Ocean, south of New Zealand, and close to Antarctica, per Space.com.

But you can watch the partial solar eclipse live via Time and Date’s livestream, which will be hosted on Space.com. While it’s never safe to look directly at the sun without solar eclipse glasses during an eclipse, viewing it with the naked eye on your computer screen is totally OK.

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