Eclipse Calculator, a new mobile app

 

Which future eclipses will be visible from my location? What will they be like? How long will they last? These are some of the questions answered by the new application Eclipse Calculator, designed by University of Barcelona researcher Eduard Masana for Android mobiles.

 

Eclipse Calculator is an appealing tool for those who love astronomy; it is easy to use and provides information about all solar and lunar or planetary transits from 1900 to 2100. The application, public and free, can be downloaded from the Google Play website . It is currently available in Catalan, Spanish and English, but creators plan to translate into even more languages.

“We aim at promoting the interest in general sky observation and in these particular phenomena”, remarks Eduard Masana, researcher from the Institute of Cosmos Sciences of the UB, member of the Department of Astronomy and Meteorology and of the Institute of Space Studies of Catalonia.

The application provides global visibility maps, as well as event details for any place in the world: beginning, end, duration, altitude of the Sun or Moon above the horizon, etc. The app also allows users to create simulations of the eclipse event from each observational point.