During those brief and geographically constrained moments, the brightness of the sun is reduced to that of a full moon, which can be viewed safely without anything over your eyes.
All we keep hearing is NEVER look up at the eclipse. What you usually don't hear is that it is safe to watch when (and only when) it is in totality.
Years ago I had the pleasure to view a total eclipse. At the eclipse event I attended they handed out special dark glasses and a pinhole contraption to use with the admonition to NEVER look at the eclipse.
In the hour or so waiting for totality while we were still in partial eclipse, I kept hearing that same warning over and over and over again. NEVER STATE AT THE ECLIPSE.
Yeah, yeah. I get it...but they were wrong.
So comes the total eclipse and I am watching thru the special dark glasses and I'm thinking this isn't such a big deal. Meanwhile the instant we hit totality, people were screaming, "DON'T LOOK AT IT WITH THE NAKED EYE!"
However, curiosity got the better of me and I soon took the dark glasses off.
HOLY MACKERAL!!!!!!
I couldn't believe it. The stupid dark lenses obscured the beauty of the eclipse. I saw details I didn't see before. Notable besides the flaring sun's corona was you could actually see crevices on the moon lit up from behind by the sun. Also missing with the dark glasses was the eerie glow in the sky. It was absolutely beautiful. And I never forgot it. And I would have missed it had I continued listening to the folks yelling to "NEVER LOOK AT THE ECLIPSE WITH YOUR NAKED EYE!"
Okay, how to know when it will be safe. That information is easily available online where it tells you to the second when totality begins and when it ends for your locality. I would recommend you download one of the clock widgets to your cell phone HERE which will tell you the time on your phone down to the second. To be on the safe side begin viewing without protection a couple of seconds after totality begins and cease a few seconds before it ends.
Oh, and just take a couple of quick photos of the eclipse so as not to take time away from the experience of viewing it live.
For those of you lucky enough to view the eclipse on Monday, it will leave a great memory with you. That was the one view of my life that was at the top of list of things I remember seeing.
FYI. Here’s hoping clouds don’t obscure your view. Use a widget clock app to let you know the time on cell phone down to the second.
I’ve got my binoculars ready!
I’m just gonna look until I need glasses.
I managed to get some real ISO certified glasses from b&hphoto at the last minute. About $15 for 5 of them. They’re scalping on ebay for $50-500 a pair!
Sooooooooooooooo, what did people do back when there weren’t any news stations, you know, back in the stone age....what did people do back then? How many people went blind because they looked up? How many cows, horses, dogs, lions, etc went blind because they looked up at the sun? Hmmmmm? Inquiring minds wanna know.
look at eclipse moment.
message brought to you by American Eye Association,
because Doctor’s procedures pay their boat trips.
ACTUALLY use ONLY ONE EYE! SAVE THE OTHER. Never look direct.
I remember a total eclipse when I was much younger... and those who did look when it was total, some had eye damage. If you value your vision, don’t take the chance. The sun is powerful and no one can look at it with the naked eye.. Just because it looks like it’s hidden, the rays are still coming at you.
When it is total, outside is eerily darker at midday... it’s an odd feeling. You know there is powerful things at work all the time and we take them for granted... but on Monday, it will take a shift and show you what is not the norm.
Don’t take the chance to burn your eyes...
And do you want to run the risk because it isn’t at totality
Frankly their are plenty of neat ways to.view an eclipse of sny type. Use those. Then view the pretty pictures from the observatories.
PS do not try and take pictures with your cell phone. You will fry the internals
Seriously?! Looking directly during totality is crazy risk. How many will want to sue CNN after this?
no no no no. do not look at it.
I recall, in my youth, staring directly at the sun on any number of occasions for about twenty seconds at a time. No, I didn’t go blind, but I did develop hair on my palms.
This is an irresponsible article title which does NOT match the title it the source.
Animals don’t stare at the Sun,
no matter how dumb,
but some People do,
while thinking it’s fun.
Just sayin’...
Looking at a total eclipse is much more dangerous than looking at the full sun because your eyes are more dilated, allowing peripheral light from the Sun to do damage.
Only if you do it while pleasuring yourself.
CNN is fake news. CNN is harmful news.
Sounds fair to me. I will remain among the ignorant superstitious many. All you superior science experts, please go ahead and stare away. And please remember to post the following day telling us how you were unaffected. Afterall, if it’s on CNN, it must be true. Please forgive me, I’m ignorant.