Will you be watching the eclipse?

[Lamb]

Part of the US is in the path of the eclipse on Monday. Will you be watching?

 

[NewCreation435]

probably not. I just don't see what the big deal is

 

[Forgiven1]

We are just out of the path of totality. Unfortunately we are to be rather cloudy. That and we have previously scheduled teeth cleaning at that time.

 

[Lamb]

We don't have proper eyewear and we are in the 90% zone, so if we decide to do anything, it will be the pinhole approach on paper.

 

[tango]

I had thought to drive into the path of totality but the only places that were within a sensible drive had high chances of cloud cover. I don't feel like driving 4-5 hours there and maybe double that or more to get home, to see the clouds. I can do that from here. So we're going to our local park to see what we can. We're supposed to get just shy of 95% coverage, although as of now it looks like the clouds are going to cover 95% of the sky.

 

[Albion]

It's kinda neat, I'd say. However, I am amazed at the projected number of people who are going to travel many miles and have room reservations, etc. all supposedly just in order to see the eclipse.

 

[Jazzy]

Here's what it looked like where I was (not my video). I watched it from my backyard:

 

[Lamb]

We had too many clouds and couldn't use the pinhole process, so we watched on tv.

 

[Forgiven1]

We had too many clouds also. Watched on tv.

 

[tango]

We had too many clouds and couldn't use the pinhole process, so we watched on tv.

As long as you don't stare at the sun I think you're more or less OK with dark sunglasses. That's what I did for much of the time. I also had a polarising filter that I paired with my polarised sunglasses so I could look at it for longer.

I've been toying with the idea of getting two liner polarisers so I can rotate them relative to each other and make an adjustable darkening filter.

 

[Lamb]

As long as you don't stare at the sun I think you're more or less OK with dark sunglasses. That's what I did for much of the time. I also had a polarising filter that I paired with my polarised sunglasses so I could look at it for longer.

I've been toying with the idea of getting two liner polarisers so I can rotate them relative to each other and make an adjustable darkening filter.

I have a welder's helmet that I used at the last eclipse, but now they're saying that the #10 isn't dark enough and you needed a #14 lens, so I was afraid to use it. I heard that other people used theirs, so I wonder how their eyes are doing?

 

[tango]

I have a welder's helmet that I used at the last eclipse, but now they're saying that the #10 isn't dark enough and you needed a #14 lens, so I was afraid to use it. I heard that other people used theirs, so I wonder how their eyes are doing?

Dark enough seems to be something people could endlessly wonder about. If you sit and stare at the sun you'll need something darker than if you snatch occasional glances. You can snatch an occasional glance at the sun with no eye protection at all - we do it every day but look away very fast because it's so bright.

It seems to me that whatever you use is about being able to look at the sun for longer than you could without protection. If you're not expecting to see totality there's no reason to look at the sun without taking breaks from it, so for myself I'd try looking at the sun through the helmet and see how your eyes feel with it. Then adjust accordingly.