Solar eclipse: Do's and don'ts

New Delhi: It is safe to watch a solar eclipse only when you adopt some safety measures to protect your eyes. Looking directly at the Sun can burn your eyes and cause permanent blindness.

Instinctively we normally we never look at the Sun directly, so please be careful, as the Sun can burn the retina ever so silently. So here are some do's and don'ts:

What to do:

• Always use a solar filter of optical density five or more
• A welder glass of rating not less than 14 must be used
• Using a homemade pinhole camera is the safest way to watch an eclipse
• Use specially made eclipse watching eye glasses, but remember they should not be scratched
• In places where there will be a partial eclipse, never view the Sun directly

What not to do:

• Don't use ordinary sunglasses, smoked glass, X-ray film, stacks of negative film to view the eclipse
• Never look at the sun directly through a telephoto lens of a camera or through a telescope, it can burn your eyes
• Taking photos of the eclipse without use of special protective filters can burn your eyes and harm the camera
• Never look at the reflection of an eclipse in water, colored or otherwise

As they say, better safe than sorry.

Source: Ministry of Earth Sciences