Eclipse eye safety
Looking at the sun without proper protection can permanently damage your eyes, and it does not hurt while it happens. With the right glasses, watching an eclipse is completely safe.
The one rule
Whenever any part of the sun's bright surface is visible, look only through certified solar filters. That means for the whole partial eclipse, before and after totality — and for the entire eclipse if you are outside the path of totality, even at 99%.
Eclipse glasses
- Use glasses or handheld viewers that meet the international standard ISO 12312-2.
- Regular sunglasses, even very dark ones, are not safe.
- Check them before use: throw away glasses that are scratched, punctured or torn, or have loose filters.
- Through real eclipse glasses you should see nothing except the sun and very bright lights. If ordinary indoor lights look bright, they are not safe.
- Buy from a reputable supplier. Fake glasses with copied ISO labels have been sold online before big eclipses; the American Astronomical Society keeps a list of reputable vendors.
- Buy early. Before the 2017 and 2024 eclipses, glasses sold out in the final weeks.
During totality
Only inside the path of totality, and only once the moon completely covers the sun, is it safe to take your glasses off and look at the corona with your naked eyes. Put them back on as soon as the first bright point of sunlight reappears at the end of totality. Use the map to find the exact times for your spot, and set an alarm for the end of totality.
Cameras, binoculars and telescopes
Never look through a camera viewfinder, binoculars or a telescope at the partially eclipsed sun unless it has a proper solar filter on the front. Eclipse glasses are not enough on their own behind optics: the concentrated sunlight can burn through them and damage your eyes instantly. Phone cameras can also be damaged by long exposures to the sun; a small solar filter over the lens helps.
Children
Make sure children keep their glasses on and understand when it is and is not safe to look. Supervise them throughout the partial phases.
Other safe ways to watch
A pinhole projector — a small hole in a piece of card, projecting the sun onto a second sheet — or the dappled light under a tree both show the crescent sun safely without looking at it.