Get a Animated Sneak Peek at What the Eclipse Will Look Like From Your Zip Code

You’ve probably heard about the upcoming Solar eclipse coming up August 21, and might even be making some cool preparations for the historical event. If you’re in the United States and wondering what time will be best or if the eclipse is worth seeing from your location, TIME has a cool animated feature that’ll give you a sneak peek of what the eclipse will look like from your zip code. You can check it out here.

It’s almost like you’re there, but don’t get too excited for a clearly visible bright moon or dramatic darkening. Those were artistic decisions, rather than a perfect recreation. The animation is, however, pretty accurate otherwise. The creators “fact-checked against NASA’s times,” had input from mathematician and amateur astronomer Barry Carter, and “NASA’s industrial-grade software, called SPICE.”

Even if you’re not on the line where the sun will be completely obscured, it’s likely to be quite a sight. For fun, go ahead and enter 62939, a zip code for Goreville, Illinois which TIME points out “will last for the longest period, over two-and-a-half minutes.” What a sight, right?

(via BoingBoing, image: screencap)

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