Solar eclipse

[Hcube]

Hey i didnt see any posts about it so i'm sharing this here since i guess everyone is into space stuff here

There will be a solar eclipse visible in north-western europe the 20th of March this year ! If anyone here lives in UK, France or Netherlands it will be the last one you will be able to see until 2081 ! The eclipse will be maximal in Iceland... It will be at around 10:10am in France, paris time

Looking forward to this, gotta get a pair of special glasses for this !

(Obviously dont use any regular sunglasses if you enjoy having a retina)

[PakledHostage]

There will be a solar eclipse visible in north-western europe the 20th of March this year ! If anyone here lives in UK, France or Netherlands it will be the last one you will be able to see until 2081 ! The eclipse will be maximal in Iceland... It will be at around 10:10am in France, paris time

I'tll be partial just about everywhere that there's land but a partial eclipse is still pretty cool. Here's a map of the ground track showing percentage coverage of the sun. The dark blue areas are the only areas that will experience totality.

[Tex_NL]

Living in the far north west of The Netherlands I should be able to get a good look at it. Weather permitting of course.

Area seeing the total solar eclipse.

More than 90% of the sun is covered.

Up to 90% of the sun is covered.

Up to 40% of the sun is covered.

Eclipse is not visible at all.

http://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/solar/2015-march-20

Edited March 10, 2015 by Tex_NL

[-Velocity-]

I bet all those people who live in Svalbard are really looking forward to this one.

[NovaSilisko]

I will be in northern Wales during the eclipse, and will be doing my best to catch sight of it. At that location, the sun will be over 90% covered, so hopefully the weather decides to be very non-British on the 20th.

[RogueMason]

Hmm, I'll probably be at uni (Liverpool) when this happens, so I'll grab my friends to watch (they'll probably be wanting to see it, anyway). Looks like we'll be getting about 90% of the Sun being obscured over here. Aw yiss

British weather permitting, of course

[Hcube]

Luckily the class i will have to skip in order to watch the eclipse is history and not physics (studying Kepler laws right now, as a ksp player i would never miss that )

[Drunken Hobo]

I'm trying to think of a budget way to view the eclipse. One of my mates is a welder so I may ask him for some welding goggles... that should do, right?

Either that or get a mirror and project it onto the side of my house.

Or 50 times more likely, stay inside as it'll be cloudy.

[PakledHostage]

I'm trying to think of a budget way to view the eclipse.

You could make a pinhole camera. Here's a link showing how to make one. All you need is a can of Pringles crips, some wax paper, some tape and a few other bits and bobs.

[Hcube]

Just saying : Im myself not sure if i want to risk my vision on a Pringles crisps box and tape...

I dont know how much protection glasses cost, but i think that as long as it is not overly-crazy-insane expensive its a expense worth the price : in fact, i will probably not live until 2081 to see the next one

[andrewas]

Yeah,don't hold the pinhole camera up to your eye. Use it to project an image of the sun onto a surface you can view.

[PakledHostage]

Just saying : Im myself not sure if i want to risk my vision on a Pringles crisps box and tape...

You didn't read either thread that I linked to, did you? As andrewas said, you don't hold the pinhole camera up to your eye.

[Tommygun]

I'm trying to think of a budget way to view the eclipse. One of my mates is a welder so I may ask him for some welding goggles... that should do, right?

Either that or get a mirror and project it onto the side of my house.

Or 50 times more likely, stay inside as it'll be cloudy.

Welder's goggles need to be rated at 14 or higher for viewing the Sun, so look for the rating, hopefully printed on the glass.

You can always just buy the replacement glass at a wielder's shop for around three dollars to be sure you get the right glass rating and mount it in the middle of a piece of cardboard.

Edited March 12, 2015 by Tommygun

[Scotius]

All you need is a piece of glass and a candle Light the candle, and carefully cover the glass with thick layer of soot from the flame. Or use a CD or DVD without opaque etiquette on one side.

[monophonic]

All you need is a piece of glass and a candle Light the candle, and carefully cover the glass with thick layer of soot from the flame. Or use a CD or DVD without opaque etiquette on one side.

I lived through a previous eclipse in the early 90's. Back then the first one was among the more commonly recommended designs recommended in newspapers for observing the eclipse. A few weeks later it was in the news being cited as a dangerously inadequate protection, alongside a few other contraptions. Luckily it was rather cloudy where I was watching, so I can still see just fine.

So, please, just stick to welder's goggles or a projected view.

[Drunken Hobo]

You could make a pinhole camera. Here's a link showing how to make one. All you need is a can of Pringles crips, some wax paper, some tape and a few other bits and bobs.

I used to have a pop-up science book with a pinhole camera in it. I think my mum gave it away. Oh well, at least that could be an excuse to buy Pringles...

Welder's goggles need to be rated at 14 or higher for viewing the Sun, so look for the rating, hopefully printed on the glass.

You can always just buy the replacement glass at a wielder's shop for around three dollars to be sure you get the right glass rating and mount it in the middle of a piece of cardboard.

Cool, thanks for the advice. Hopefully the UK rating is the same as US, unlike absolutely everything else. A UK 14 will probably end up being a US 6 and I'll scorch my corneas out.

[dharak1]

Is looking at the sun really that bad? Because I wasn't the brightest when I was little and because I was told not to do it when I was 5 I would stare at the sun. I still have decent vision and don't need glasses. Does it just damage vision in low light or certain color ranges?

[lajoswinkler]

Welder's goggles need to be rated at 14 or higher for viewing the Sun, so look for the rating, hopefully printed on the glass.

You can always just buy the replacement glass at a wielder's shop for around three dollars to be sure you get the right glass rating and mount it in the middle of a piece of cardboard.

13 is fine. 13 and 14. I don't think 15 even exists.

All you need is a piece of glass and a candle Light the candle, and carefully cover the glass with thick layer of soot from the flame. Or use a CD or DVD without opaque etiquette on one side.

DO NOT DO THAT.

Those are horribly poor filters. Their transmittance is too high for certain wavelengths and that will cause retinal damage you might not notice immediately.

Is looking at the sun really that bad? Because I wasn't the brightest when I was little and because I was told not to do it when I was 5 I would stare at the sun. I still have decent vision and don't need glasses. Does it just damage vision in low light or certain color ranges?

Damage depends on several factors. Brain has a powerful "software" to patch the bad image, but it doesn't work for all levels of damage.

Never look at the Sun without proper shielding, unless it's just above horizon.

[ZetaX]

Is looking at the sun really that bad? Because I wasn't the brightest when I was little and because I was told not to do it when I was 5 I would stare at the sun. I still have decent vision and don't need glasses. Does it just damage vision in low light or certain color ranges?

That's not how glasses work anyway. Sun damages cells required for vision (they can and often do regrow, but that depends); glasses (mostly) correct for deformations in the eyeball or lense that defocus your vision.

And indeed, low light vision is one of the first things damaged by looking into too bright things for too long. If you only filter out the UV parts of light, most of the sun is not that likely to cause permanent damage (but still can, so I strongly recommend against trying): the damage by visible and infrared light often heals, but this can take several weeks.

Getting back to glasses, people needing them are at significantly less risk for two reasons (but again: don't try either way):

a) Their focus when looking at the sun might be less exact due to their glasses not being perfect.

Some types of glass, e.g. the usual one for windows, filter most of UV.

But as I said, you still should not try looking directly onto the sun unless using very strong and high quality filters. Most glasses use other types of glass (or just plastic), and even the IR part can do damage.

[Tex_NL]

Caution! Do NOT do what I am about to say unless you're sure you have the proper equipment!

Looking at the sun with binoculars, even during an eclipse, will burn out your retinas.

As a teenager during an eclipse I had binoculars with specialized filters. Even the darkest filters where not dark enough to look directly at the sun. But I also had a pair of extremely dark sunglasses. The combination of the glasses and the binoculars with the dark filters gave me a front row seat while my dad and brother where messing about with welding goggles.

[lajoswinkler]

Indeed, if you view the solar disc (eclipsed in any amount or not at all) with a magnifying optical device, anything other than professional specialized filters will burn your retinas.

This is not a joke. You will get injured.

Safe methods of viewing an eclipse are:

a) direct methods: looking through welder's glass #13 or #14 (the latter is better), looking through specialized filters (Baader solar filter are one of the best if not the best), looking through dense true black/white (silver emulsion only!) fully developed film negative (medical radiographs without images on them, 2 layers are best); only with naked eye - for watching through telescope, highly specialized filters are needed; in any case don't stare for a long time - it's not like you need more than 5-10 seconds

indirect methods: projecting an image on a matte surface using a pinhole or a telescope/binoculars, watching the footage taken by a camera; you can watch that for as long as you want to, obviously

Dangerous methods that will damage your retina or cook your eyeballs are:

looking through a glass with deposited candle soot, several sunglasses, welder's glasses with shade <13, colour film negative, floppy disc, CD/DVD, photography filters, peeking into a telescope/binoculars with any filter other than exact specialized one set on the objective or looking through an unshielded telescope, etc.

Just because one filter shows the visible Sun to be darkened, doesn't mean its infrared or ultraviolet transparencies are attenuated, too. You could be looking all wide eyed into the pleasantly dark photosphere, and meanwhile IR cooks your retina and UV breaks your retinal pigments and cells. Next thing you're trying to read something and you can't see the letters in your center of vision. You see stuff sideways yet nothing in the middle. Think about it.

Edited March 13, 2015 by lajoswinkler

[Xannari Ferrows]

Caution! Do NOT do what I am about to say unless you're sure you have the proper equipment!

Looking at the sun with binoculars, even during an eclipse, will burn out your retinas.

As a teenager during an eclipse I had binoculars with specialized filters. Even the darkest filters where not dark enough to look directly at the sun. But I also had a pair of extremely dark sunglasses. The combination of the glasses and the binoculars with the dark filters gave me a front row seat while my dad and brother where messing about with welding goggles.

You sure? I've been able to stare at the sun for a full 1.5 minutes without pain. No sunglasses or anything. Of course, it was nighttime, so...

[gmpd2000]

You sure? I've been able to stare at the sun for a full 1.5 minutes without pain. No sunglasses or anything.

U blind, bro?

[Tex_NL]

U blind, bro?

No, he isn't. But apparently you are. You didn't read. "Of course, it was nighttime, so..."

[ZetaX]

No, he isn't. But apparently you are. You didn't read. "Of course, it was nighttime, so..."

He could have been on the ISS... anyway, this is a horrible missuse of "staring at", so I would not blame anyone for missing this bad joke. (To quote the first definition of staring I found on the web: "To look at directly and fixedly"; note the "directly").