It may be a little early yet for the DISH Network to be offering the newest “Twilight” episode in theaters called “Eclipse,” but the satellite service is offering another eclipse to its viewers free of charge this weekend, the solar eclipse in HiDef, live from a camera mounted on a commercial communications satellite.
UPDATE: Sunday, 5:30 p.m.: The rare total solar eclipse — in which the moon passes between the Earth and the sun, casting appearing to blot out the sun briefly — is not visible to anyone in the U.S., but DISH Network’s Earth channel 287 has been featuring a live shot of the Earth since 12 noon PT today (Sunday, July 11). Instead of looking at the moon in silhouette in front of the sun as people in the south Pacific and elsewhere are seeing, the DISH network shot shows the shadow of the moon on the Earth (not the moon itself, obviously). DISH Network viewers began to see the shadow of the moon eclipse the Earth in mid-afternoon. Several hours later by 5:30 nearly half the Earth was in shadow.
— By Scott Hettrick