March 23-24, 2026 | Sonoma State University
Even 9 years after the 2017 "Great American Eclipse," we are still disseminating and synthesizing lessons learned and research from the celestial event. New and sustainable outreach programs were seeded or enhanced by citizen scientists, researchers and educators for the eclipse. Books are being published, reports written, and scientific research findings are being shared with the world.
About the Eclipse Megamovie Team Meeting
The 2017 and 2024 Eclipse Megamovie projects have galvanized individual volunteers into a community of citizen researchers. The Eclipse Megamovie Team Meeting will take place in the form of conversation and sharing, with the goal of synthesizing and summarizing activities, research, lessons learned, and resources in ways that are useful for maintaining relationships with audiences and preparing for future eclipse events.
This gathering will document what participants have done as part of the Eclipse Megamovie community over the course of two total solar eclipses that took place in the United States in 2017 and 2024. Together, we will examine best practices and potential risks of taking scientifically relevant photographs of solar eclipses to synthesize into an article for future total solar eclipse citizen science efforts. Despite having two total solar eclipses under our metaphorical belts from the last decade, there is plenty still to learn and room to grow in our eclipse outreach and research expertise.
Additionally, many Eclipse Megamovie volunteers and team members engage the public in astronomy and space science. This meeting will give those who are passionate about eclipses and citizen science an opportunity to shape their path over the course of the next decade of eclipse outreach and science. While the moon's shadow during a total solar eclipse is not scheduled to cross the U.S. for a number of years, together, we can find effective ways to keep communities involved in science. Moreover, there are international opportunities that many eclipse educators and researchers are already planning to use to engage those they serve or for the research they undertake. The Eclipse Megamovie Meeting is an opportunity to support these efforts.
Participants can anticipate responding to questions posed by the Eclipse Megamovie team, such as:
- What do you wish you had that you did not have for the eclipse?
- What do you need to make an eclipse outreach event or research project a success?
- What have you learned from the Eclipse Megamovie and other eclipse activities you performed that will inform future decisions?
- What do you think the path forward into future eclipse outreach and solar research should look like?
We are very excited to bring together those who have been involved in Eclipse Megamovie in any way over the past 14 years, and we invite you to include your friends or colleagues. Attendees, made up of people passionate about eclipses, including "eclipse chasers," research scientists, astrophotographers, and amateur astronomers, will discuss the products of nearly 10 years of eclipse citizen science and identify what the future holds. This will include the collection of feedback from volunteers and citizen scientists regarding what they enjoyed most, what was most useful, and what they felt they needed while participating.