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4,751 articles from TIME

How to Use Your Smartphone to Take Photos of the Solar Eclipse

On Monday April 8, a total solar eclipse will pass across the U.S.. While the last solar eclipse visible from the U.S. occurred only seven years ago, it won’t be until 2045 that a total solar eclipse will pass again from coast to coast across the country. Given that you might have to wait a couple decades for the next one, it might be worth taking a photo to capture the moment....


THURSDAY 28. MARCH 2024


Here’s What Determines How Long the Total Eclipse Will Last in Your Location

If you’re like all but 74 Americans, you do not live in Radar Base, Texas. Seventy-four is the population of the town, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Such a tiny place may not be much to your liking, but on April 8, you’ll have cause to envy the people who do live there. That’s because Radar Base will experience four minutes and 27 seconds of totality during the...

These Are All the Different Types of Eclipses

No one in human history has ever seen an eclipse quite like the one seen by the crew of Apollo 12 on Nov. 21, 1969. Countless billions of us have seen the moon eclipse the sun, casting its shadow on the Earth; countless billions have seen the Earth similarly block solar light, casting a shadow on the moon. But the Earth eclipsing the sun, as viewed from far off in deep space? That’s a...

The Challenge and Necessity of a Shared Reality

All animals, including humans, have limitations in how they find out about the world. And we humans invent instrumentation to correct for weaknesses in our perceptions of the world. The most basic weakness we have is that our perceptions don’t tell us everything about what’s going on with the world. So we need corrective devices. Some of us need spectacles. To see very...


WEDNESDAY 27. MARCH 2024


A Faster Spinning Earth May Cause Timekeepers to Subtract a Second From World Clocks

Earth’s changing spin is threatening to toy with our sense of time, clocks and computerized society in an unprecedented way — but only for a second. For the first time in history, world timekeepers may have to consider subtracting a second from our clocks in a few years because the planet is rotating a tad faster than it used to. Clocks may have to skip a second —...


TUESDAY 26. MARCH 2024


How to Safely Watch the Total Eclipse

The first solar eclipse I had a chance to witness I in fact didn’t witness at all. It was July 20, 1963, and I was attending Camp Comet in Waynesboro, Pa. The camp’s owners and counselors—not to mention, our parents—wanted nothing to do with the prospect of 150 literally wide-eyed boys staring directly at the sun as the moon partly obscured it. So they kept us inside...

I Applied to Be a NASA Astronaut. You Can Too

Recently, I applied to become an astronaut. I would like to be able to say that there is a non-zero chance I will be accepted, but sub-zero is more like it. Not a whole lot of people who can actually recall Sputnik—which, for the record, was launched on Oct. 4, 1957—quite make the age cut to climb on top of a rocket. Still, I filled out the nine-page form and sent it in, even if...


MONDAY 25. MARCH 2024


How Animals and Nature React to an Eclipse

Of all of the animals worth observing during a total solar eclipse, some of the most intriguing are humans. They stop what they’re doing; they stare skyward; they lower their voices to a hush. Some may gather their young close. Some may even shed tears. If you’ve ever witnessed a solar eclipse yourself, none of this comes as a surprise; indeed, you’ve surely exhibited some...


FRIDAY 22. MARCH 2024