Can you wear sun glasses during a solar eclipse?

Question

I know you can't stare at it till the sun and the moon are completey together and I know its dangerous so do I need anything special or will a 100% protection against uv rays shade would do it?

Answer 1

Disregard the advice of anyone who says it's safe to look at the sun through sunglasses - it isn't. It's safe to look at it through a welder's helmet, but nothing else will provide adequate eye protection.

Answer 2

Yeah if it's 100% protection it'll be fine.  

Just remember, if it hurts to look, look away.

Answer 3

Angel -

I really don't think that's a good idea. Look at it this way: Would you wear those sunglasses to stare into the Sun at noon when there is no solar eclipse? If not, then I would not recommend that you use them during an eclipse. It's not the rays that light up the sky that will hurt you - it's the ones you cannot detect that are flooding into your eyes with no warning while your pupils are wide open. The risk is not worth the potential benefit.

Answer 4

No No No

There are very few pain nerves in your retina.  The sunlight (even  with  most of then UV filtered out) can burn out the retina without you feeling hardly any pain, until  it is too late.

There have been a very few cases where the retina has grown back in 6 months or a year, but most victims lose their eyesight in the center of their vision.

Answer 5

NO! Not even welder's goggles are 100% protection for looking directly at the sun. You would probably be safe look at a reflection off of water thru welder's goggles.

The greatest danger to you eyes is when the first thin sliver of the sun appears at the end of totality. That is when your pupils are dilated to let in the full intensity of the light.

The best way is to project the sun from the eye piece of a telescope onto a viewing screen inside a dark box. If you are really ambitios you can build a solar observatory. There are ways to use a telescope's tracking motor to keep the sun's image perfectly still on a viewing screen. With special color filters, you can even see fine details in the sun's surface.

Answer 6

Given - the light from the Sun is bright and will burn the retina in your eye, whether UV, infrared, visable Crayola, etc, the light of the Sun will burn your retina.

How to observe the Sun - you can glance at the sun (non eclipse ) and you will notice spots in your eyes afterwards. You can stare at the sun (non eclipse) and you will eventually feel pain. Close your eyes and face the sun, you will feel the warmth of the light on your face so you can imagine the heat your eyes would feel.

Eclipse - the light is blocked by the moon so it is not the same amount of heat/light/ But the heat is still there. For example - a bon fire or a match. The bonfire will burn you quick, the match will take a little longer but it still burns.

What causes the damage during  eclipse is that since it is cooler, we look longer and dont notice the damage being done.

IT IS NEVER SAFE TO LOOK DIRECTLY AT THE SUN, NO ECLIPSE OR DURING ECLIPSE, NO CONDITIONS.

A bucket of water would probably act like a mirror and would reflect the heat as well as the image. Use of water or mirror to reflect the suns image on a wall or ceiling of darken room is best. PUTTING FILTER BACK ON AT DIAMOND RING indicates use of optices, if you are using telescope, once you see diamond ring your eye is gone. The magnification of binoc or telescope will burn your eye in milliseconds.

What if the filter has a scratch (same as welders glass)?  Welders glass is safe as it protects the welders eyes from a welding arc (the same type of light and heat as the sun)

Answer 7

NO--- NO--- and NO!

Always use solar film glasses especially made to block out 99.9% of the light along with all types of ultraviolet light. They are made from the solar film discussed at this link:

http://www.company7.com/astrophy/options...

Answer 8

NO !!!..put a bucket of water outside, and view the eclipse by looking at the reflection in the water. Your eyes are not worth getting injured over the fact that the moon is between the earth and the sun.

Answer 9

There's no 100% protection against UV.  If your sunglass tell you that's what they're doing, they're lying.  If your sunglasses were made out of welders glass, then yes, you can look at the Sun any time you want.  Otherwise, just look quickly then look away again.  If it hurts, stop it.

Answer 10

No, sunglasses are not enough to safely view the partial phases of a solar eclipse. The answerer above who advises you to look away if it's painful totally misses the point. The reason partial solar eclipses are dangerous to your eyesight is precisely that you can stare at them without discomfort, while that tiny but still intensely bright sliver of sun is burning your retina. To be safe use eclipse glasses or other proper solar filters, or #14 welder's glass.

Answer 11

Outside of totality, you cannot stare, even with very good sunglasses.  You need appropriate filters.

Staring (= looking for more than a brief second) at the sun is always dangerous, including during the partial phase of an eclipse.

During totality, you do not need special protection.  However, you need to turn away (or get the filter back up) as soon as the "diamond ring" appears at the end.

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Even if you don't use them to look at the eclipse, sunglasses are not a proper fashion accessory to wear at an eclipse.

They clashes with the filters and interfere with telescope viewing.