Advertisement

Solar eclipse on Thursday: Seven ways to see it safely

Share

A solar eclipse will sweep across most of the United States on Thursday, and you definitely want to check it out -- safely.

A solar eclipse occurs when the moon is between Earth and the sun and blocks all or part of the solar disk. Thursday’s eclipse is a partial eclipse, which means the moon will only obscure a portion of the sun.

The eclipse is visible at different times depending on where you live. (Sky and Telescope has this handy table to tell you the best time to see the eclipse in your area.)

Advertisement

Here in Los Angeles, it begins at 2:07 p.m. and peaks at 3:27 p.m. The entire shebang is over at 4:39 p.m.

You are not going to want to look directly at the sun during the eclipse. Harmful radiation from the sun’s rays is just as dangerous during a partial eclipse as it is when the sun is not obscured.

But do not fear. Tony Cook, astronomical observer at Griffith Observatory, had several suggestions for safe eclipse viewing that he shared with The Times.

One of the easiest ways to safely view the eclipse is to make a pinhole projector, which requires a pin (or the point of a sharp pencil), and two pieces of paper. You poke a hole in one piece of paper and hold that up to the sun. Then hold the other piece of paper a few feet away in the shadow of the first. You should be able to see an image of the eclipsed sun projected on the second piece of paper.

An even easier option is to make a loop with your fingers and then look at the shadow it casts on the ground. You should be able to see the shadow of the eclipsed sun.

You can also look around for foliage and see whether you can see the image of the eclipse in the shadow of the leaves on the ground.

Advertisement

Another idea that takes just a bit more work is to get a pair of cheap reading glasses with a diopter strength of 1 at a drugstore. Then make a hole-punch-sized hole in a piece of paper or tinfoil, and use that to cover one of the lenses. If you hold the covered glasses up to the sun, they should project an image of the eclipsed sun about 40 inches away. This will give you a bigger projection than the pinhole projector, and allow several people to look at the shadow of the eclipsed sun at once.

If you want to view the eclipse directly, you will need a pair of eclipse glasses that can block out the sun’s harmful radiation. Look for them at stores that sell telescopes and other astronomical observing devices.

You can also see the eclipse safely by using a telescope that has a good solar filter attached to it. Here in Los Angeles, you will find sun-safe telescopes on the front lawn of Griffith Observatory and in the parking lot at Mt. Wilson Observatory. Look around on the Internet, and you should be able to find other options near you.

Finally, you can watch the eclipse online. The astronomy website Slooh.com will be live-streaming views of the eclipse from several telescopes across the U.S. beginning at 2 p.m. PDT. Griffith Observatory will also have a live broacast of the eclipse beginning at 2 p.m.

If you have other favorite ways safely see the eclipse, let me know in the comments section or by Twitter.

Happy eclipse viewing, and keep those eyes safe!

Science rules! Follow me @DeborahNetburn and “like” Los Angeles Times Science & Health on Facebook.

Advertisement


Advertisement