Mark your calendars for an astronomical spectacle! This Monday, May 8th, the cosmos will stage a breathtaking performance as the moon pirouettes in front of the sun, casting a shadow that will bring about a solar eclipse. The event commences at approximately 2:07 pm EDT, reaching its dramatic climax at 3:20 pm EDT when the moon completely obscures the sun, plunging us into a transient twilight. This phase, known as totality, will persist for approximately 3 minutes and 38 seconds, providing the safest window for eclipse observation. By 4:33 pm EDT, the celestial ballet concludes as the moon concludes its transit across the sun.
In the age of smartphones, it’s tempting to capture this rare event through the lens of your mobile device. However, NASA emphatically advises against this (via XDA). Pointing your camera at the sun during the eclipse could inflict irreparable damage on your phone’s internal components. This warning isn’t just a whimsical caution from the space agency’s social media team, but a serious advisory rooted in the potential harm to your device’s image sensor when exposed to direct sunlight, especially if a magnifying lens attachment is used.
I cannot for the life of me find a definitive answer to whether or not pointing a smartphone at the solar eclipse will fry the sensor
Tempted to just take a phone I don’t need and point it at the sun for 5 minutes to find out the real answer myself. In the name of science
— Marques Brownlee (@MKBHD) April 4, 2024
NASA’s @NASAHQPhoto team confirms that the phone sensor could be compromised just like any other camera sensor if it’s aimed directly at the sun. To safely photograph the sun at any point other than totality, you would need to employ the correct filters, akin to those used on professional cameras. A practical workaround would be to position a pair of eclipse glasses in front of your phone’s lenses.
Rather than risking a molten mess of silicon and metal seeping from your phone’s orifices, NASA proposes an alternative focus for your eclipse photography. Capture the transformative effect of the eclipse on the surrounding landscape, a perspective that promises to yield stunning results.
Bill Ingalls, a seasoned photographer at NASA, offers this insightful advice, “The most captivating images will be those of the spectators themselves – their expressions of awe, their gestures of fascination, their shared experience of wonder. These are the moments that truly encapsulate the emotion of the event.”