Q&A: How to safely look at a solar eclipse?

Question by Diego Palma: How to safely look at a solar eclipse?
I want to know how to look at a solar eclipse because the one today is going to pass by where i live
And i would like to know if it will damage my eyes if i look at it
Can i see it through a camera?
Do sunglasses help?
Or is it something that is designated to look at the solar eclipse


Best answer:
Answer by TechwingYou need something like carbon-arc-welding glasses in order to view this type of eclipse safely. They should be at least shade #14.

You could photograph it with a digital camera as long as the camera has an electronic viewfinder and not an optical viewfinder. However, this may permanently damage the camera.

Another good way to see the eclipse is by using a special solar attachment on a telescope that projects an image of the sun onto a screen (NOT by looking directly into the telescope, which will produce blindness).

Sunglasses are not dark enough to help.

The only solar eclipses that can be safely viewed with the naked eye are total solar eclipses, when the sun is completely covered. This is not that type of eclipse. The sun's edge will still be visible during this eclipse, which makes it dangerous to look at with the naked eye. It also makes the eclipse far less impressive, since it doesn't get very dark and the portion of the sun that is visible is so bright that it makes everything else invisible.

My own opinion is that only a total solar eclipse is worth getting excited over. Partial and annular eclipses are a disappointment, as well as an eye hazard.

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On Sunday, 11 July 2010 , a Total Eclipse of the Sun is visible from within a narrow corridor that traverses Earth's southern Hemisphere. The path of the Moon's umbral shadow crosses the South Pacific Ocean where it makes no landfall except for Mangaia (Cook Islands) and Easter Island (Isla de Pascua). The path of totality ends just after reaching southern Chile and Argentina. The Moon's penumbral shadow produces a partial eclipse visible from a much larger region covering the South Pacific and southern South America. As seen from the Earth, a solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between the Sun and the Earth, and the Moon fully or partially covers the Sun as viewed from some location on Earth. This can only happen during a new moon, when the Sun and Moon are in conjunction as seen from Earth. At least two, and up to five, solar eclipses occur each year; no more than two can be total eclipses.Total solar eclipses are nevertheless rare at any particular location because totality exists only along a narrow path traced by the Moon's umbra. A total solar eclipse is a natural phenomenon. Nevertheless, in ancient times, and in some cultures today, solar eclipses have been attributed to supernatural causes or regarded as bad omens. A total solar eclipse can be

Total Solar Eclipse | Solar Eclipse Information