This coming Monday, May 8th, at approximately 2:07 pm EDT, a solar eclipse will take place as the moon moves in front of the sun. At 3:20 pm EDT, totality begins and the sun will be completely blocked by the moon and this will last for roughly 3 minutes and 38 seconds and is the safest time to view the event. By 4:33 pm EDT, the moon will have passed the sun ending the event. Everyone knows not to look at the sun while the eclipse is taking place, but can you use your phone to take a picture while the eclipse is happening?
We asked our @NASAHQPhoto team, and the answer is yes, the phone sensor could be damaged just like any other image sensor if it’s pointed directly at the Sun. This is especially true if you’re using any sort of magnifying lens attachment on the phone. You would need to utilize…
— NASA (@NASA) April 4, 2024
NASA suggests that instead of allowing the interior of your phone to melt into silicon and metallic puddles dripping out of your phone’s speaker(s) and charging port, focus on taking pictures of the landscape in front of you and how it is impacted by the eclipse. That’s the kind of brilliant response that you’d expect from men and women who carry a slide rule in their pockets.
NASA photographer Bill Ingalls says, “The real pictures are going to be of the people around you pointing, gawking, and watching it. Those are going to be some great moments to capture to show the emotion of the whole thing.”
