If you looked directly at the sun here on earth for a couple of seconds you wouldn’t suffer much damage to your eyes. But the sunlight is being filtered through miles of atmosphere. What would happen to your eyes if you were out in space with a transparent faceplate that filtered out minima light and looked directly at the sun for just a few seconds?
Wouldn’t it depend on where you were? Are you expecting to be just outside the Earth’s atmosphere? I’d say that if you could get sufficiently far away, it would be ok. Certainly, getting a few light years away will result in the Sun looking as big and as bright as some of the stars you see in the sky from earth - not damaging in any significant way.
According to this: Lecture 29: The Earth's Atmosphere 22% of sunlight is absorbed in the atmosphere. Some of that is probably on the way back up, but even if we assume it’s not, the sun out in space at Earth orbit would only be 25%-30% brighter than it is on the surface. That’s enough to be “safe” over short durations.
(But, obviously, do not try this at home either. Looking at the sun unprotected isn’t such a great idea anywhere.)
It wouldn’t just be linear absorption across all wavelengths; the earth’s atmosphere is particularly good at absorbing UV, and that’s the part that’ll do the most harm.
I found myself pondering the Sequential Thread Titles:
Giant Mystery Eyeball Discovered on South Florida Beach
Looking at the sun in space
and I thought to myself, “well, where else would the sun be?”
Yeah, I was thinking of of near earth orbit like the ISS.
Most of this absorbtion is caused by clouds. If you look at the Sun in a cloudless sky it won’t be very much dimmer in visible wavelengths than it looks in space.
UV is a different matter. Best wear sunglasses inside your visor…
Despite a bit of natural UV blocking in our corneas, the ozone in our atmosphere cuts out 97% of the sun’s full UV output. Only 3% gets through when the sun’s at its zenith.
So, yeh, might wanna wear shades in space.
Other than that, looking at the sun for about 20 or 30 seconds will burn your retinas off. Space to not.