is it bad to look into a solar eclipse?

Answer 1

During the totality of the eclipse, it is not necessarily bad to look at it without protection. The sun is blocked out and the light from the corona is not bright enough to be damaging to your eyes. The reason why people are cautioned from looking directly at a total solar eclipse without protection is because you don't know exactly when it will end, and when it does, the very bright bit of sun that pops out from behind the moon will strike your eyes with the pupils fairly dilated, which can definitely damage your eyes. Aversion reflex will probably prevent that from happening but it is still unwise.

Answer 2

Arkalius is spot on!

The best way to view a solar eclipse is to project the image from the eyepiece of a telescope with a tracking motor thru a small opening in a blackened window to a white screen in a dark room.

For best results, practice viewing the sun a few days before the eclipse. Set up the telescope, with polar mount and tracking motor, near an east or west window. Cover the window with an opaque canvas with a hole in it. If you can't open the window, remove a pane of glass. Make an opaque conical hood to reach from the telescope's eyepiece to the window, so the only light entering the room is what comes from the eyepiece.

The main drawback is that the image on the screen will follow the motion of the sun, moving 15 degrees per hour; that's about one solar diameter every 2 minutes. One way to correct this problem is to set up the telescope so the eyepiece points out the top of the telescope, (toward the north star) into a stationary front-silvered mirror (stationary relative to the Earth, not relative to the telescope). Turn the mirror so the image shines onto your viewing screen. This only works perfectly about the time of equinox; but that's when solar eclipses happen.

An even better solution is to attach your front-silvered mirror to the polar mount and tracking motor so that the sunlight is reflected either directly toward or away from the north star. Then set up the telescope in a fixed position, aligned with the Earth's axis, in front of the mirror. This setup works on any sunny day of the year, and the sun's image on the screen is perfectly still.

For really spectacular results, buy some special solar filters for eyepiece---not the ones used for direct viewing, but the ones that block all but specific wavelengths. Do all this and you will have your very own solar observatory, just like Kitt Peak, but not quite as big.

Answer 3

It is dangerous to look at the partial phases of an eclipse without a proper solar filter. These can't be improvised, but must be designed specifically for solar viewing. The only exception is during the few minutes of totality, when the Moon is completely blocking the Sun; then it is perfectly safe to look at the Sun with unaided eye, binoculars, or a telescope. On any organized solar eclipse expedition, you will be provided with proper filters and be given detailed instructions on when it is safe to look at the Sun without the filter.

It's too bad that many people have become scared of viewing solar eclipses. I have viewed two total eclipses with proper equipment in perfect safety, and they have been the most beautiful sights in my entire life. If you get a chance to travel to a solar eclipse, do it!

Answer 4

yeah, you never really want to look at the sun without a solar lens . . . your eyes aren't really meant to handle that sort of abuse and it can damage your vision . . . that may be why as an aspiring child astronomer i screwed up my eyes to 20/300 vision without glasses, lol

Answer 5

well, its bad to look directly into the sun for any reason, eclipse or not.

Answer 6

Yes because the bright light can mess up your eyes.

Answer 7

well, yes, with or without sunglasses. without the glasses, the sun can blind you. with sunglasses, the radiation from the sun can destroy your eyes...and it can blind you. :-)

Answer 8

Arkalius' answer is definitive.

Answer 9

with protection, no
without, yes

Answer 10

Yes, my friend, yes. It is.