Solar eclipse, I don't understand why we can't look 😬

[Abouteffingtime]

I'm not stupid....really.

So mormally, if you look at the sun, its bright, but doesn't appear do any harm. (Based on my random viewing of the sun on occasion...) Can anyone explain to me why the solar eclipse is different?

Or, is it actually different?

Tag this for future you to look back on when you’re are going blind from a fried retina or cancer of the eye that yes looking directly at the sun is bad.

Iys also not a total eclipse so you’ll still get frazzled eye balls and people tend to not accidentally look and look away but stare

I think its more because we are likely to stare at it longer then we would the sun and its the sudden brightness of the sun appearing after the moon has fully gone over it

https://www.healthyeyes.org.uk/sight-and-the-sun/ - how looking at the sun damaged your eyes. I assume an eclipse is worse because you look at the sun for a prolonged period

Well then let’s commend OP for asking to educate themselves before doing it

The sun can damage your eye's retina, but because there's no feeling of pain in the retina you don't realise until it's too late. Damaged retina cannot be repaired

Because the sun is dimmed, your eyes do not feel pain and your pupils stay open wider.

Because the radiation/light hitting your eyes when looking directly at the sun can permanently damage them.
It’s only a partial eclipse so there is still enough light radiation reaching your eyes to damage them.
Best case scenario would be for light cloud which allows you to see the outline of the sun as the moon passes in front of it.
For the last eclipse in the 1990s we set up a mirror and screen in the garden at work so we could watch the eclipse. It was very simple.
The weirdest thing about that eclipse was the drop in temperature at full eclipse and how quiet it went as all the birds stopped singing.

Your pupils get bigger when it goes dark (when the eclipse is happening,) and when the sun pops back out and you get that huge diamond flash effect, your pupils will be much bigger/open, and you will damage your retinas if you are looking directly at the sun.

PLEASE don't look at it. Not without special glasses.

There are ways you can still see it.

Just Google it.

.

I bought eclipse glasses so we can look at it

Because normally the light is too bright for you to look at it for more than a very brief moment, but during a partial eclipse you are tempted to look at the sun for far longer.

I took a photograph of the sun once (I was not actually looking at it, I hasten to add, I just pointed the camera in the general direction). Traditional camera with actual film inside it. The sun burnt a hole right through the film inside the camera.

You can look at the sun. You just cannot guarantee your retinas still functioning afterwards.

I genuinely don’t understand why I can’t wear sunglasses?

Oh so dramatic!

Whoa! That’s kind of cool! But also yeah, I don’t want that happening to my eyeballs

But it’s not possible to stare directly at the sun with sunglasses on. Buy eclipse glasses.

Yeah, not really. You crack on and stare right at the sun during the eclipse by all means. But look forward to a future of impaired vision.

(Please do NOT stare right at the sun, especially when it's the eclipse!)

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Plenty of information here...

https://ukhsa.blog.gov.uk/2026/07/23/how-to-watch-the-solar-eclipse-safely-this-summer/

@itsbinmadness That information is Health and Safety information regarding safety during the eclipse, from THE GOVERNMENT!

I despair!

!

OK, don't bother, knock yourself out by frying your eyeballs because you're too lazy to do a bit of easy research.

im pretty sure it was an eclipse when the Triffids descended and everyone went blind then!

This. ^ Most of that poster's posts on here are devil-may-care and ridiculous anyway... 'Why can't I just wear sunglasses' and 'oh so dramatic!' when someone said you can damage your eyes. I am hoping they're not serious. Surely no-one can be this ridiculously ignorant and clueless?

@itsbinmadness

😂😂😂

You’re using strangers on a forum as Google (when Google would be quicker!) and then telling them to bog off when they provide you a link with all the information you’d need! 😂

fucking love Mumsnet.

Yep! 😆

While we’re here, explain to me why I can’t just stick a fork in my eyes. Don’t piss me about with links, explain to me!!