LYNCHBURG Va. (WSET) — With the upcoming solar eclipse, on April 8, ABC13 heard from a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador on how you can view and capture the eclipse using your smartphone.
Trish Cerulli is this ambassador and the president of the Blue Ridge Astronomy Club.
“Solar viewing can be done very safely, but you have to make sure that you have the proper equipment. That includes different types of filters or solar viewing glasses that are ISO compliant,” Cerulli said.
These glasses can be found online and given away at various events, such as the CVCC solar eclipse viewing on April 8.
The easiest and safest way to use your smartphone is to put solar glasses or another solar filter over the top of your phone camera.
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The key is to make sure the glasses or filter is secure and over the whole camera, on your cellphone.
“You can use these (the glasses) because the material is safe. You can put this up to your phone and it’s best practice to have some sort of tape that you can put onto your phone,” Cerulli said.
Cerulli found out this worked when viewing a different eclipse, earlier in the year.
“I successfully, back in October, used these complaint solar viewing glasses to view the partial eclipse in October,” Cerulli said.
Cerulli also said it is fine to look at the screen, just don’t look straight at the sun, during the eclipse.
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“With your cell phone, it is also important to not point your phone directly at the sun, if you don’t have that filter in front of your camera lens. It(the sun) can damage or burn up the optics inside the inner workings of your camera,” Cerulli said.
Other available products include things such as clip-on filters for smartphone cameras.
There are also tripods that can help with taking a steady picture.
Other things like colladers, can be used during the eclipse to take cool pictures on the ground.
Cerulli explained it is an exciting time to be viewing this eclipse.
“It is a really exciting time for solar observing because we are in the middle of an active solar cycle. So in addition to the exciting eclipse, you most likely will be able to see some activity on the sun’s surface,” Cerulli said.
