

Those who want to look with their own eyes must wear eclipse glasses. The American Astronomical Society (AAS) has a list of recommendations at /resources/solar-filters. Ultimately, how long it takes for damage to occur depends on several factors, such as the dilation of the pupil and the sun’s intensity on that specific day. If you want to snap a picture of the solar eclipse or look at it through binoculars or a telescope, you must use a specialized solar filter for your lens. Permanent retinal damage can occur when someone looks at the sun for 100 seconds or less. Using any of these tools can be dangerous because they can increase the damage done to your eyes by acting as a magnifying glass for the sun’s rays, speeding up the burning of your retinas. Long exposure to the sun without proper protection will cause scarring of the retina from burns and lead to partial, or even permanent, blindness.Īn added risk during the eclipse is for those who try to look at the sun through binoculars, a camera or a telescope. The sun damages the retina, which is the part of your eye that transmits information to the brain.
Another trick for protecting your eyes from the sun.I have the proper eye protection for the eclipse today, but I did look directly at the sun really quickly for 1-2 seconds without any. When looking for sunglasses, be sure to purchase a pair that is UV-resistant for maximum protection. Now I'm not one to prove a point, but I know that's false. I had a buddy tell me that if you looked at the sun for 1-2 seconds you would go blind. This condition caused by staring at the sun is known as solar retinopathy. I know that looking at the sun is bad (let me start with that). “And once they’re burned, there’s no repair, there’s no fix for it.” You can just look at it, and it’s really cool to look at it, but that whole time you’re literally burning the cells off your retina,” said Vike Vicente, a Washington pediatric ophthalmologist, which means an eye doctor for kids. “You can stare at the sun during an eclipse for 10 minutes, and it doesn’t hurt.
