The incredible AI eclipse 'megamovie': Google software stitches together amateur footage to show totality traversing the US
- Google put together photos taken by volunteers across the US during the August 21 total solar eclipse
- The images were stitched together by an algorithm, based on the time and location of the photo
- It provides an extended look at the sun's atmosphere as the total solar eclipse passed through 14 states
- As more images are uploaded and processed, the gaps will be filled in and the movie will improve over time.
After weeks of anticipation, the sight of the moon's silhouette blotting out all but a halo-like corona of the sun drew whoops and cheers from onlookers when it began over the West Coast on Monday.
If you didn't get the chance to see the eclipse, Google put together a collection of photos taken by a group of volunteers across the US during the August 21 total solar eclipse.
The images were stitched together by an algorithm, based on the time and location of the photo, so viewers can get an extended look at the sun's atmosphere and follow the total solar eclipse as it passed through 14 states.
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Darkness swept across the US on Monday, August 21 as the eclipse traveled from coast to coast, ending just before 3pm EDT in South Carolina (pictured, the total eclipse in Oregon)
The celestial event began in Oregon at just after 9am PDT, and by 10.20am, the sun was completely blocked out except for a halo-like solar corona plunging the area into twilight.
Over the next 90 minutes, the total eclipse traveled through 14 different states until ending in South Carolina.
The deepest part of the shadow, or umbra, cast by the moon fell over a 70-mile-wide, 2,500-mile-long 'path of totality' traversing Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina.
The Google eclipse megamovie follows the path of the solar eclipse throughout the 14 states that it passed through, allowing the viewer to see what the eclipse looked like as it traveled from coast to coast.
Where there are gaps in the images collected, the previous image is shown for a longer period of time.
As more images are uploaded and processed, the gaps will be filled in and the movie will improve over time.
The 12 million people who live along the path of totality could view the eclipse at its fullest merely by walking outside and looking up, weather permitting.
Images of the solar eclipse were stitched together by an algorithm, based on the time and location of the photo, so viewers can get an extended look at the sun's atmosphere and follow the total solar eclipse as it passed through 14 states
The Google eclipse megamovie follows the path of the solar eclipse throughout the 14 states that it passed through, allowing the viewer to see what the eclipse looked like as it traveled from coast to coast
Some 200 million Americans live within a day's drive of the totality zone, and as many as seven million, experts said, were expected to converge on towns and campgrounds along the narrow corridor for the event.
The other 36 states were all treated to a partial solar eclipse, where the moon covers only a part of the sun.
If you missed this year's solar eclipse, you can see the next one in seven years.
On August 21, 2017, the United States was treated to a coast-to-coast total solar eclipse, sweeping across the country from Oregon all the way to South Carolina
A crowd gathered in front of the Hollywood sign at the Griffith Observatory to watch the solar eclipse in Los Angeles
The next US solar eclipse will take place on April 8th, 2024, passing from Texas to Maine, with the Canadian city of Montreal being able to see the totality as well.
The next total solar eclipse after that will place at August 12, 2026, and will be seen from the Arctic, Greenland, Iceland, Spain and Northeastern Portugal.
WHEN WILL THE NEXT SOLAR ECLIPSES TAKE PLACE?
If you missed this year's solar eclipse, you can see the next one in seven years.
The next US solar eclipse will take place on April 8th, 2024, passing from Texas to Maine, with the Canadian city of Montreal being able to see the totality as well.
Graphic showing the solar eclipses that will take place around the world between 2018 and 2040. The next US solar eclipse will take place on April 8th, 2024, passing from Texas to Maine, with the Canadian city of Montreal being able to see the totality as well
The next total solar eclipse after that will place at August 12, 2026, and will be seen from the Arctic, Greenland, Iceland, Spain and Northeastern Portugal.
On September 2nd, 2035, a large number of people in China, northern Japan and Korea will witness a total solar eclipse.
Between 2023 and 2038, the greatest number of total solar eclipses will take place in Australia: There will be five solar eclipses visible from the continent between April 20th, 2023 and December 26th, 2038.
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