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.
I can’t believe this crap is being passed around in the media.
Even during totality, UV light is still bombarding the planet. Difference is that the reduction of visible light results in pupil dilation which lets in more UV light.
That will damage the retina and exposed areas of the options nerve.
I won’t be in the path of totality but even if I were, I would never risk looking at the sun even at the moment of total occlusion. The solar corona is still very bright, and I’m not going to risk my eyesight on the say-so of some CNN writer. It would be far more interesting to watch the rapid nightfall and subsequent dawn around us than to start up at the sun itself.
The light can damage a cell phone camera’s sensors, so people need to use glasses over the sensor to take pictures of the eclipse. You can burn out your camera in the cell phone just like your retina. I have a feeling that by Tuesday morning, there'll be a lot of dummies out there with damaged eyes and/or cell phones.
But everyone doesn’t get the totality, right?
I am disappointed with myself - going to miss the second in a row total eclipse in my life in the region, but just can’t justify the 300 mile trip starting at 3 in the morning for 58 seconds worth of totality. Plus I just found out the store and restaurant where I’d been thinking about going are closed Monday (remote area in central Oregon). Oh well, 96% obscuration back at home will still darken the sky noticeably.
The country has lost it’s damn mind over this eclipse.
Aliens sighted near Hopkinsville, KY. I know. I read it online.
Will check out the live video feeds.
A lot of this DON’T LOOK business is to get sheeple trained to be controlled.
I am currently just outside the path of totality. On Monday, I will be in the center of that path at an entertainment complex I built in Missouri some years ago.
At the center of the path of totality band, the eclipse there will last 2.5 minutes. Some people don’t realize that by being in the path of totality but by being on the edge of it, the duration is cut by 80%. Nearby in the edge of the path, it will be 30 seconds or less. So look at your maps and shoot for the center of the path.
You can look at the sun directly with the naked eye, of course not for long, but an eclipse certainly is much safer. There is a reason God gave us pain: Looking at the sun creates what? PAIN and we look away and that prevents eye damage unless you were kidnapped by Obamas heroes, the ISIS of South America, MS-13 and they tied you to stakes and sewed your eyelids open, then you would have a problem looking at the sun.
