Looking at the sun, even during the totality phases of a total
eclipse can _permanently_ damage your eyes.

Looking at the eclipse with the naked eye is damaging, but looking
at it with an optical device (such as binoculars or a telescope) is
even more dangerous, as the device is designed to focus incoming
light on your retina, destroying them faster.

There are safe ways of observing the eclipse:
1. Use #14 welders glass as a filter for either your eyes or any
optical instrument such as a camera, telescope or binoculars;
2. Use a pinhole to project the image onto a piece of cardboard or
paper and look at the projected image only.
3. Find a local amateur astronomer and really enjoy the view through
a telescope suitably protected with a solar filter.

Nora Hague
Member Royal Astronomical Society of Canada
Montreal Centre

> Not my area of expertise: But every time there is a solar
> eclipse the warning goes out that one should _NOT_ look at it
> directly through _ANYTHING_! Instead, a pinhole projection box
> should be used. Looking at the sun, even if in eclipse, can
> cause permanent vision damage, so they say.
>                           Usual Disclaimers

> > SUB:Total Solar Eclipse www site, etc.
> > FROM:Yasui R., Tokyo
> > Dear Sun-Watchers,
> > A  the Total Solar Eclipse can be view on live on the web from 00:30 am Greenw
> > ich Time to around 2:30 am on March 9 (Sunday).
> >
> > The website's URL is: http://www.solar.eclipse.org
> >
> > Your Sun lover,
> >
> > Ryo
> > Museum Consultant
> > E-mail: [log in to unmask]
> >
> > Tokyo March 8, 1997
> >
>
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Nora Hague                                      Tel: 514-398-7100
Cataloger 2D                                    Fax: 514-398-5045
Notman Photographic Archives
McCord Museum of Canadian History
690 Sherbrooke West, Montreal
Quebec, Canada H3A 1E9          E-mail: [log in to unmask]
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