Eye safety tips for April 8 solar eclipse
ULLIN, Ill. (KBSI) – The United States will experience its second total solar eclipse in seven years on April 8. The last solar eclipse in the area was August 21, 2017.
Southern 7 Health Department officials remind people to take necessary precautions to protect your vision and enjoy it safely.
Watching a solar eclipse without protection, even for a short time, can seriously damage your eyes and cause blindness, according to the American Academy of Ophthalmology.
Except during the brief total phase of the eclipse, or totality, when the moon completely blocks the sun’s surface, it is not safe to look directly at the sun without specialized eye protection for solar viewing.
As soon as you see even a little bit of the bright sun reappear after totality, immediately put your eclipse glasses back on or use a handheld solar viewer to look at the sun.
During the partial phases of the eclipse, which happen before and after totality, you must look through safe solar viewing glasses (“eclipse glasses”) or a safe handheld solar viewer at all times.
Safe solar viewers are thousands of times darker and should comply with the ISO 12312-2 international standard.
Always inspect your eclipse glasses or handheld viewer before use. It it is torn, scratched, or otherwise damaged, throw away the device.
Always supervise children using solar viewers.
Eclipse glasses are now regular sunglasses. Regular sunglasses, no matter how dark, are not safe for viewing the sun.
Do not look at the sun through a camera lens, telescope, binoculars, or any other optical device while wearing eclipse glasses or using a handheld solar viewer as the concentrated solar rays will burn through the filter and cause serious eye injury.
If you don’t have eclipse glasses or a handheld solar viewer, you can use an indirect viewing method, which does not involve looking directly at the sun. One way is to use a pinhole projector, which has a small opening (for example, a hole punched in an index card) and projects an image of the Sun onto a nearby surface.
Another way to safely view the eclipse is to use the circular holes of a colander to project crescent shapes onto the ground. With the sun at your back, you can then safely view the projected image. Do not look at the sun through the holes.
In addition to protecting your eyes, remember that the sun will be very bright at all times regardless of its phases.
If you watch an entire eclipse, you may be in direct sunlight for hours.
Wear sunscreen, a hat and protective clothing to prevent skin damage.
This year’s solar eclipse visits Illinois on April 8, 2024 beginning approximately at 12:42 p.m. with totality at about 1:59-2:03 p.m. The final exit of the moon’s shadow from the state will be about 3:18 p.m.
Tap here to check out the Eclipse Path & Visibility Map to see different location’s exact times.
Visit science.nasa.gov for more eclipse safety information.
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Total solar eclipse watch parties planned for April 8 in Jackson
