SAFE ECLIPSE VIEWING
First things first: NEVER LOOK AT THE SUN with just your eyes.
Your eye is like a small magnifying
glass, focusing light on the back of
the eye. Focusing direct sunlight on
the retina will damage it, often
permanently. There are no pain
receptors in the retina, so damage
can occur that you will not feel or
possibly notice until hours later. Do
not sunburn your eye! Your skin can
peel; your eye cannot. So never ever
look at the Sun without a proper filter
between you and the Sun.
Magnifying glasses focusing sunlight to burn a hole in paper – don’t
let the Sun burn your eyes!
During a lunar eclipse, we are looking
at the Moon. The Moon is always safe to look at, so no special precautions need to be taken.
A solar eclipse occurs as the Sun is gradually blocked by the Moon. It is only safe to look at the
Sun with your eyes when it is completely blocked by the Moon, without even a speck of the
Sun’s surface in view. When the Moon totally blocks the Sun during the total eclipse, for a few
seconds or a minute or two you can look toward the fully blocked Sun in the darkened sky to
see the outer atmosphere – the corona – emanating outwards from behind the Moon. This is a
stunning and beautiful sight that we want everyone to see! But for the rest of the eclipse, you
need to practice safe solar viewing.
DO NOT use these items for eclipse viewing
DO NOT use a “Sun filter” that screws into a telescope eyepiece. At the
eyepiece, sunlight is being focused and is very hot! These filters can and do
fail catastrophically. Cracked open, your unprotected eye is now at the
focus and will be damaged.
DO NOT use smoked glass. Not dark enough! DO NOT use camera filters
such neutral density.
DO NOT use black trash bags. Not dark enough!
DO NOT use exposed film, regular or x-ray. Not dark enough! Do not make
layers of this (even if you can find film).
DO NOT use dark sunglasses! No matter how cool looking they are. Not
several pairs at once. Not safety glasses.
In short, nothing that can be found around the house
is good for direct viewing of the Sun.