In thinking about the solar eclipse that happened yesterday, one question was on my mind: Why do we need glasses to look at the eclipse? We can glance at the Sun normally and it isn’t described as especially dangerous—but for some reason with the eclipse, there’s all this extra supposed danger; that if you don’t wear special glasses, you can have irreversible eye damage. If you do a search about this topic, you’ll find articles about how you look at the Sun longer than normal during an eclipse, so that’s why it’s dangerous; but that doesn’t seem to be the full story. Is the Sun brighter during an eclipse? What’s going on?
Eclipse thoughts
Eclipse thoughts
Eclipse thoughts
In thinking about the solar eclipse that happened yesterday, one question was on my mind: Why do we need glasses to look at the eclipse? We can glance at the Sun normally and it isn’t described as especially dangerous—but for some reason with the eclipse, there’s all this extra supposed danger; that if you don’t wear special glasses, you can have irreversible eye damage. If you do a search about this topic, you’ll find articles about how you look at the Sun longer than normal during an eclipse, so that’s why it’s dangerous; but that doesn’t seem to be the full story. Is the Sun brighter during an eclipse? What’s going on?