# Severe eye damage, or staring at an Eclipse on Christmas **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 26, 2001, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/severe-eye-damage-or-staring-at-an-eclipse-on-christmas/51872 "2001-01-26T16:18:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![idiotboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@idiotboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/idiotboy)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2001, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/severe-eye-damage-or-staring-at-an-eclipse-on-christmas/51872/1 "2001-01-26T16:18:41Z")
Whether you were aware or not, our Moon tried to obsure the life-giving light of the sun for a few brief moments on Christmas Day 2000…but only with 50% success. Many people got a good glimpse with the help of eclipse glasses and other filters. As for me, I was trying to squint and see…but to no avail, so I went back inside to eat more turkey and open presents. I knew it was happening, I just couldn’t see it. For the remainder of the day, I was seeing spots before my eyes. Well, my friend Damon, who is an _excellent_ photographer, got the opportunity to record the events of the heavenly dance from lovely, tropical Dayton, Ohio with his telescope and camera equipment, having MUCH success! He just recently posted his photographs on his website [HERE](http://www.iwaynet.net/~djtaylor/extra/eclipses/eclipse2000.htm). Go have a look…they are simply breath-taking pictures with an amusing storyline! I thanked him for sharing these beautiful images with me, as I was extremely disappointed I wasn’t prepared to see the specticle with my own eyes. ---
**Author:** ![Padeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2001, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/severe-eye-damage-or-staring-at-an-eclipse-on-christmas/51872/2 "2001-01-26T16:32:45Z")
It’s not difficult to observe an eclipse safely without scorching your retinas buddy. A #10 welding lens should be sufficient though I have seen #12 or darker suggested. An ordinary pair of binoculars can be used to project the image of the sun but for God’s sake don’t look through them. ---
**Author:** ![Podkayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Podkayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Podkayne)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2001, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/severe-eye-damage-or-staring-at-an-eclipse-on-christmas/51872/3 "2001-01-26T18:12:49Z")
Even projecting in image of the Sun onto the sidewalk through a simple pinhole in a 3x5 card works wonderfully. The glory of an eclipse ("And so, the cosmic dance continues. . . "–Leonard Nimoy) plus, the wonder of elementary optics. ---
**Author:** ![idiotboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@idiotboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/idiotboy)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2001, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/severe-eye-damage-or-staring-at-an-eclipse-on-christmas/51872/4 "2001-01-26T18:22:48Z")
Well, seeing as I’m not a welder…I didn’t have any welding lenses handy. However, we did try the pinhole-in-a-box thing, but due to the partiality of the eclipse, it wasn’t as spectacular as if I was prepared with some type of protective lens… ---
**Author:** ![Phobos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Phobos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phobos)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2001, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/severe-eye-damage-or-staring-at-an-eclipse-on-christmas/51872/5 "2001-01-26T21:46:00Z")
you _stared_ into the sun?!?!? egad, man! well, you could get your optomotrist to take a picture of your retina & show you the eclipse-shaped burn mark 🙂 thanks for the link - - personally, I got to see it through some eclipse-viewing glasses. ---
**Author:** ![Padeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2001, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/severe-eye-damage-or-staring-at-an-eclipse-on-christmas/51872/6 "2001-01-26T21:51:33Z")
You don’t have to be a welder but you can buy a lens for a few dollars at Home Depot. Better to have it on hand if the urge to stare at the sun strikes your fancy again. ---
**Author:** ![Vestal\_Blue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/5e9695/32.png) [@Vestal\_Blue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vestal_Blue)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2001, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/severe-eye-damage-or-staring-at-an-eclipse-on-christmas/51872/7 "2001-01-27T00:07:49Z")
Hmmmmmmmm…a fitting user name. I hope the damage wasn’t permanent! 🙂 Nice link; thanks! I once snapped a picture of an eclipse with an instamatic. The picture of course was washed out, but up in the left corner was a tiny, perfect image of the eclipse. ---
**Author:** ![idiotboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@idiotboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/idiotboy)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2001, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/severe-eye-damage-or-staring-at-an-eclipse-on-christmas/51872/8 "2001-01-29T16:07:37Z")
Ok, so I exaggerated a bit…I didn’t exactly stare _into_ the sun…at least for more than a second at a time…I just stared _near_ the sun, to see if I could catch the slight shadow from the corner of my eye, but it just didn’t happen. No, there was no permanent damage, except to my ego. I was all excited, telling my future in-laws and family all about the eclipse and how neat it will be…and it turned into a big disappointment. Yeah, I should have been prepared before I got there…but I left the Boy Scouts just before we took the “Be Prepared” oath. Oh well. If I woulda just asked my fiancee’s brother, who’s a chiropractor, to bring a few scrap X-Ray film, we would have been just fine…and seen the eclipse through spinal fractures and neck re-adjustments! How cool would that be? 🙂