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Home | Total Solar Eclipse 22nd July 2009 | How can I observe the partial eclipse safely?
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| How can I observe the partial eclipse safely? |
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Looking directly at the sun for more than a second at any time (eclipse or no eclipse) can damage your eyes. Viewing a partial (annular) eclipse and/or the partial phases of a total solar eclipse with unprotected eyes is worse because you are concentrating on looking at the sun, and you look at it longer. It will cause serious injury to your eyes that will affect your vision for the rest of your life. Parts of your retina may literally be cooked! The following are some of the safe viewing of Total Solar Eclipse.
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Solar Filters: Viewing through a special aluminized Mylar film designed specifically for eclipse viewing. |
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Welder’s Glass No.14: Welders' goggles or the filters for welder's goggles with a rating of 14 or higher are safe to use for looking directly at the Sun |
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Viewing by projection: Use a card with a small hole in it to project an image of the eclipse on a screen, and you watch the screen, not the sun. You can use a piece of paper, or even a straw hat with a little hole in it. Just put something with a little hole in it over a flat surface and you'll see the sun's movement. |
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Fully Exposed and Developed Black-and-White Film :One can make your own filter out of black-and-white film, but only true black-and-white film (such as Kodak Tri-X or Pan-X). Such films have a layer of silver within them after they are developed. It is this layer of silver that protects your eyes. |
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Camera and Telescope Solar Filters: Many telescope and camera companies provide metal-coated filters that are safe for viewing the Sun. They are more expensive than common Mylar, but observers generally like them better because they are available in various colors, such as a chromium filter through which the Sun looks orange. Through aluminized Mylar, the Sun is blue-gray. As with the Mylar, you can look directly at the Sun through these filters. |
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Caution:Do not use color film or chromogenic black-and-white film (which is actually a color film). Developed color film, no matter how dark, contains only colored dyes, which do not protect your vision. It is the metallic silver that remains in black-and-white film after development that makes it a safe solar filter. |
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| Unsafe methods of viewing solar eclipse: |
- Sunglasses, single or multiple layers
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- All color film, black-and-white film that contains no silver, photographic negatives with images on them (x-rays and snapshots)
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- Photographic neutral density filters
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- Mylar film not of optical grade(such as product packaging)
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