How to watch the solar eclipse on Twitch via NASA, Fortnite, and Minecraft

For a moment, parts of North America will go dark on April 8 due to a total solar eclipse — when the moon, passing in front of the sun, will block all light. The last time this happened was in 2017, and it won’t happen again until 2044. It’s a moment you won’t want to miss — even if you don’t have the essential and safe eclipse glasses.

From 2 p.m. EDT to 4 p.m. EDT on April 8, Twitch and NASA will host live coverage of the celestial event as a “dynamic way to view this moment as part of a larger community.” The NASA livestream of the actual eclipse will be co-streamed alongside Minecraft and Fortnite streamers playing “eclipse-themed versions of Fortnite and Minecraft,” according to a news release. (Earlier this year, NASA and the National Esports Association teamed up for a game jam that asked college students to create game simulations of the eclipse, NASA said on its website.)

The exact timing of the eclipse — and the totality (or period where the moon is entirely blocking the sun) — depends on where you live. NASA said the first continental North American location to reach totality is “Mexico’s Pacific coast at around 11:07 a.m. PDT.” The eclipse path moves across the continent from there until it leaves “continental North America on the Atlantic coast of Newfoundland, Canada, at 5:16 p.m. NDT,” according to NASA. East coast viewers in Burlington, Vermont, for instance, will reach totality at 3:26 p.m. EDT. There’s a full timeline on the NASA website. Of course, if you’re watching online, you’ll see footage from across North America from the 2 p.m. EDT to 4 p.m. EDT timeframe.

Here’s what to expect from Minecraft and Fortnite, according to a press representative for the event:

During the event, each game will bring a different viewpoint of the eclipse. With educational elements in mind, Minecraft will venture through a game called “Look Up!” in which players must escape the moon to get to Earth before the eclipse takes place by answering eclipse-themed questions and solving puzzles. Similarly, Fortnite will have the player venture through different areas that can be accessed by moving through different parts of the eclipse’s path of totality.

Here are the details from Twitch:

What: Twitch hosts NASA and Epic Games/Microsoft in collaboration with the National Esports Association
Where: Tune into Twitch.tv/esportnealive
When: Live on April 8 from 2 p.m. EDT to 4 p.m. EDT

Update (April 5): NASA will no longer be streaming the event on its Twitch stream, instead hosting the event on the National Esports Association’s channel. We’ve updated this story to reflect this change, and added some information about what to expect from the stream.