Page:Illustrated Astronomy.pdf/96



There is no need to use safety measures to watch a lunar eclipse so that this section focuses on solar eclipses.

Watch directly at the Sun is harmful to our sight. The brightness is so intense that our retina can be irreversibly damaged. So, if we want to watch the Sun directly, we must do it using the right implements. Then, during the total solar eclipse, it is not necessary to use any protection, you can watch directly without glasses and is NOT harmful, but before the totality and right after, we should protect ourselves.

WATCHING THE SUN INDIRECTLY

The safest way to watch the Sun is by watching it indirectly. To do so, you can take any paper sheet and cut a tiny hole (of 0.5 mm, for example). Then, point to the Sun and see how the light goes through the hole, projecting onto another surface, which can be another paper, a wall, the ground, etcetera. The closer, the smaller is seen, but intense. If you put the paper away, it is blurrier but bigger.



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