2010 Solar Eclipse - How to View an Eclipse Safely

2010 Solar Eclipse - How to View an Eclipse Safely

First things first. DO NOT try to use any type of optical magnifying device to view the solar eclipse. Binoculars and telescopes pointed at the sun and viewed by the human eye can cause instantaneous blindness. Professionals who use optical devices that have special filters which allow them to view the event through their instruments.Joe Citizen, on the other hand, has a few cheap options that can be just as fun. I'm going to briefly describe the most popular methods. Solar eclipse glasses purchased from an astronomy store, a homemade pinhole viewing box or the cardboard projection method.Safe solar eclipse glasses are made from a scratch resistant, optical density 5, black polymer material. They can remove practically all of the infra red, ultra violet and 99% of the harmful visible light spectrums. These special glasses allow you to see the eclipse as an orange image. They are cheap, lightweight, and some manufacturers offer the ability to print advertising information if your organization would like to give them away or sell them as promotional items. Even though these glasses are safely rated, experts still advice not to view the sun through them for extended lengths of time. So, use common sense and watch the eclipse for only short lengths of time.If you can't find a set of glasses, then your best bet is to make a pinhole viewer. A pinhole viewer is an indirect method of viewing the eclipse. It's much safer than any type of glasses or filter because in order to use it, your back is to the sun. (It's hard to burn your optic nerve that way) To make a pinhole viewer, simply take a medium sized, rectangular box and poke a small hole in the center of one of the short sides. While standing with your back to the sun, put the box over your head with the pinhole side facing the sun. You will see an inverted image of the eclipse projected on to the opposite side of the box. (CAUTION: Do NOT look through the pinhole under any circumstances. It can cause immediate blindness)Another safe method is to use two pieces of cardboard in the same way that the box was used above. Simply take one piece of cardboard and poke a hole in it. Hold the piece with the hole up to the sun and allow the light from the pinhole to project an image of the eclipse on to the other piece of cardboard. Again, DO NOT look through the pinhole at the sun for ANY reason. Unprotected direct viewing of the solar eclipse can cause permanent blindness.The first solar eclipse of 2010 was be on Jan 15, 2010. It was best viewed from the Maldives and is said to be the longest eclipse of the millennium. The next eclipse of 2010 will be a total solar eclipse on July 11.

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