Eye protection while watching a total solar eclipse

[FactChecker]

That is empirically not true, as I can attest.

We should be careful here. This thread has mixed discussions of viewing with the naked eye, binoculars, and telescopes. There can be orders of magnitude difference in the amount of light gathered by these.

Furthermore, using a stopwatch to measure elapsed time is an additional safety check.

But the exact time varies quite a bit with the distance from the center path of totality. I would not count on knowing the time without accounting for that.

I would not give advice in this forum that could easily lead to permanent eye damage.

 

[Vanadium 50]

Apart from not knowing the exact duration in the place you will be standing, and not knowing exactly when totality starts, do you really think people will be looking at the stopwatch instead of the sky?

 

[Vanadium 50]

I have a problem with the advice "I did something risky and got away with it. You can too," (Not just for an eclipse)

Further, if something is 99.9% safe, that works out to thousands with eye damage.

I lost my vision (for a different reason), and after a year, I have not fully recovered, I would not wish this on anybody. I think the "how far can we push the envelope" discussions are dangerous, and misguided, and the consequences of miscalculating are sufficiently severe that we should not go down this path. Especially on a public forum.

 

[Stavros Kiri]

There's also this safe idea:
https://www.physicsforums.com/threa...nnular-apr-08-2024-total.1051127/post-7070075

 

[Orodruin]

Found this randomly:

Put protection on when the outro starts …

It is in jest obviously, but if you are going to view the totality with the naked eye - make damn sure you know how long totality will last at your location and that you start a timer that will go off well before totality ends so you have ample time to look away and/or put protection back on.

 

[berkeman]

Rhut-rho...

https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/29/world/fake-real-glasses-solar-eclipse-wellness-scn/index.html

Counterfeit eclipse glasses with black lenses that have straight left and right edges from China (top) are printed with text copied from real eclipse glasses, but the counterfeit glasses are missing the company address. Meanwhile, real eclipse glasses from American Paper Optics (bottom) have reflective lenses with curved left and right edges.
American Astronomical Society

“Until recently, the only counterfeit products we knew of were cardboard-frame eclipse glasses made by an unidentified factory in China but printed with ‘Mfg. by: American Paper Optics’ (APO) on them,” the AAS shared in a news release. “APO is one of the major U.S. manufacturers of safe solar viewers and prints its name and address on its eclipse glasses, whereas the Chinese copycat products have APO’s name but not its address. Thankfully, these particular counterfeits appear to be safe.”

 

[Vanadium 50]

Counterfeit products from China? Who'd have thunk it?

The US should get even. Send them some 737's.