Watching The Solar Eclipse Next Friday

[flobadob]

Apparently there is going to be a partial solar eclipse taking place next Friday morning. What sort of things do you need to view this safely? Do you need to buy special glasses or are there diy items so that you don't burn out your retinas?

[Prudie]

I remember the one in 1999, we were all allowed to go outside from work to watch it. It was completely cloudy and hardly got any darker, in fact you wouldn't have thought it was more than a spell of hefty cloud. Fingers crossed this one will be better.

[Maydup]

Sadly I shall be watching it on the internet at this rate. All suppliers of eclipse glasses appear to have sold out or are charging riduculous prices.

does anyone have a link to a supplier with stock?

[atalanta]

I have seen eclipses and partial eclipses abroad. This is how I viewed the sun: I got about 40 strips of old-fashioned photographic negatives, looked through them towards the sun, and took away one at a time until I could only just see the sun. I fastened the remainder together and used this as a hand-held shield. Worked a treat, but it rained in Luxembourg where we were, so I hardly needed a shield at all. But total blackness at 11 in the morning was eerie - rain or no rain - since no streetlights, carlights or house lights came on.

[FrogNog]

I'm lucky enough to own a solar telescope, but if you are using a normal scope, don't put an eyepiece in. It may melt or set your paper on fire.
Just project onto paper and NEVER look at the Sun for even a second through a telescope or binoculars.
It can blind you painlessly and quickly.

[FrogNog]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/261809946308?limghlpsr=true&hlpv=2&ops=true&viphx=1&;hlpht=true&lpid=108&;chn=ps&device=c&adtype=pla&crdt=0&ff3=1&ff11=ICEP3.0.0-L&ff12=67&ff13=80&;ff14=108&ff19=0

I don't trust them much, but they won't hurt you. Make sure there are no scratches or holes.

[Tuvok]

never look at the sun directly

never use the small solar filters that come with some telescopes - these can shatter with no warning - as happened to one of our Society's Presidents when he was a boy - he was lucky

[jno]

there's an animation here showing its path and time over the UK

http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEanimate/SEanimate2001/SE2015Mar20T.GIF

[Old_Geezer]

Just don't look at the sun through a lens and you should be fine. A pinhole camera arrangement can show the eclipse projected onto card. Dark glass or photo-negatives can darken the view enough to look too. Not total this far south though.

[Peter Pedant]

// When I was a penniless schoolboy in the Fifties we got hold of scraps of glass and applied a smoked barrier using a candle - seemed effective but H&S might baulk at this today.//

I referred to this very thing on Nailit's can-you-burn-your-retina ? thread

I think it must have been a partial eclipse around Sep 1964
Blue Peter. Later they said these were not suitable as some kids did not apply enough lamp black and also it doesnt shield infra red which is the real burning frequency

Lately they have been saying that the only safe way is to case the image on a screen, flat surface and look at the reflection. that is there is no safe way to look at the sun directly - and I would agree

[Peter Pedant]

Tuvok and frognog for best answer

[flobadob]

I was looking into it and one of the suggestions was as boatman said, using a welders mask so I'm going to get one off a mate tomorrow and with any luck problem solved.

[sandyRoe]

Weather forecast is for heavy cloud. There'll not be much for us to see in NI