Here's how you can watch today's total solar eclipse

You can watch the solar eclipse without having to buy a plane ticket

You may not be able to catch the today's total solar eclipse with your own eyes, but you can catch the fast-approaching event with a little help from NASA and YouTube.

On course for today at approximately 5:38pm PT/8:38pm ET/1:38am GMT, the moon will come between the Earth and the sun near the Pacific Ocean and Southeast Asia, resulting in a solar eclipse set to last for approximately four minutes.

Image Credit: NASA

(Credit: NASA)

Since the celestial phenomenon will mostly occur over the ocean and be only partially visible to nearby countries such as Thailand, Borneo and Malaysia, NASA TV is providing streaming coverage of the eclipse starting at 8pm ET.

The Slooh community, comprised of a global network of telescopes that users can observe and manipulate, also plans to capture the event via livestreaming. You can watch Slooh's broadcast on YouTube, complete with pre-eclipse coverage:

This is a "preview" for the next big total solar eclipse, which will cut right across the continental US in August 2017, NASA says. Today, the space agency is testing out new ways to observe the sun's corona thanks to the blocked light.

Should you be able to attend this year's solar eclipse in person or via passenger plane, remember not to stare directly at the sun. Stick to the video streams if you want to enjoy the sun's corona while preserving your corneas.

Parker Wilhelm
Parker Wilhelm is a freelance writer for TechRadar. He likes to tinker in Photoshop and talk people's ears off about Persona 4.