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How dangerous is it to watch a solar eclipse without proper dark glasses? I recall a Feynman story where he watched the first nuclear bomb test without eye prot
by Houshalter 9y ago
How dangerous is it to watch a solar eclipse without proper dark glasses? I recall a Feynman story where he watched the first nuclear bomb test without eye protection, just through the window of a truck. Under the theory that normal glass filters most UV light.
- shawn-butler 9y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photic_retinopathy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photic_retinopathy The damage is usually reversible.. loss of vision returns usually within 12 months.
- Stratoscope 9y agoWell, Feynman was one of the most brilliant scientists in history, but he was also quite insane. (As one of his students, I say this with a great deal of love and respect for him!) To answer your question, though, we need to distinguish between a partial eclipse and a total eclipse. You had best use eye protection for a partial eclipse, or even better, use a pinhole projector as I described elsewhere in this thread. (Search the page for my username.) But a total eclipse is perfectly safe to view with the naked eye, and even with binoculars! You could use a telescope, but binoculars give you a better field of view. Either way, you're not looking at the sun any more, you're looking at the solar corona. During totality, the sun is completely blocked by the moon itself. This is a much more substantial filter than anything you could ever buy on Amazon.
- DiThi 9y ago> But a total eclipse is perfectly safe to view with the naked eye, and even with binoculars! But one must be careful. As soon as the moon stops blocking the sun, there are sun rays concentrated in a tiny point. Like looking at the point of a powerful laser, it doesn't feel as powerful as it actually is. Esp. regarding invisible wavelengths.