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New App Prepares Citizen Scientists for 2019 Solar Eclipse in South America

Now available for both iOS and Android devices, Eclipse Camera 2019 will help users take stunning photos and video of this once-in-a-lifetime event.
Apr
29
2019
Authored by
Hugh McDonald
Executive Producer

Update, May 28, 2019: You can learn more about the Eclipse Camera app on our new dedicated website, see www.eclipsecamera.com.

On July 2, a total solar eclipse will blaze a path across Chile and Argentina—and Ideum’s new Eclipse Camera 2019 mobile app gives viewers unique ways to take part in this amazing stellar experience.

Designed in collaboration with the Space Sciences Laboratory at UC Berkeley, Eclipse Camera 2019 makes users participants in an international citizen-science project. When people use the app to take images and video of the moon inching across the face of the sun and the glowing solar corona, those images, plus the time and location data they’re associated with, can be sent to scientists to create a massive dataset of eclipse observations.

Getting clear images of astronomical events is actually quite tricky, especially when they last only a few minutes. Eclipse Camera 2019 actually takes control of your smartphone’s camera to take the best images and video possible using a range of exposure settings.

The app also provides information about the eclipse’s path, a countdown clock to the big event, a built-in practice mode, and tips for using a tripod or external telephoto lens for even sharper images.

With Spanish language support and a soon-to-be-released video feature, Eclipse Camera 2019 marks a significant update to Eclipse Megamovie Mobile, an app we released in 2017 for that summer’s solar eclipse. We’ve been very fortunate to continue our long-term partnership with the Space Sciences Laboratory to bring this functionality to more people.

An Ideum team will travel to Argentina this July to document this summer’s event. And we are already making early plans for innovative ways to capture the next eclipse visible in the United States, in 2024.

Eclipse Camera 2019 is now available in both the App Store and Google Play. Stay tuned here for news and updates!