Heading to the historic eclipse?
Looking directly at the sun can cause severe eye damage. Protect your kids’ eyes while viewing a solar eclipse
How can I safely watch the solar eclipse with my children? On Monday, April 8, there will be solar eclipse visible in North America. A total eclipse will span a 115-mile swath from Texas to Maine. Here in New Mexico and in the rest of the continental United States, we will see a partial eclipse.
An eclipse happens when the moon passes between the sun and the Earth and blocks the sunlight. This casts a shadow on the Earth, causing a period of darkening in the middle of the day, like dawn or dusk.
Protecting the eyes
We all know that it is never safe to look directly at the sun. But it is important to know that looking at any part of the sun, even when it is partially obscured by the moon, is not safe. Using a camera, binoculars, or a telescope to view it can cause instant, severe eye damage, unless using a special-purpose solar filter properly fitted over the front of the lens.
Even wearing appropriate eclipse glasses or a handheld solar viewer to look through a camera lens, telescope, or
binoculars can cause serious eye damage due to the concentrated solar rays that can burn through the filter as they go through the lenses that are being used.
Eclipse glasses or a safe handheld solar viewer should be used while viewing the eclipse. These glasses are not like regular sunglasses, regardless of how dark they are. Both eclipse glasses and handheld solar viewer are thousands of times darker and should comply with an international standard, ISO 12312-2; the number and logo should be clearly visible on the glasses or viewer somewhere. If you want to reuse glasses from a previous eclipse, you should
inspect them for tears, scratches, or any other damage ahead of time and throw them away if they are flawed.
Theoretically, it is safe to look at the sun during the brief period that it is totally obscured by the moon, but this period is very brief and eye injury can occur as soon as there is even a small sliver of sun, so it is safer to always keep the glasses on or use the viewer continually. This is especially important when watching with children who may not always listen when it’s time to put the glasses back on.
The pinhole way
Another way to view an eclipse is the way my father taught me when I was 13 years old. He was an astrophysicist and came to my middle school on the day of an eclipse to show my class how to safely view the eclipse. I was so excited and proud to have him come to my school. I thought he was going to bring a great big telescope or his best binoculars. Instead, he showed up with index cards with a single hole punched in each card. I was mortified! But then he explained that this type of viewing device is called a pinhole projector. At least the name was fancy! Silliness aside, this allowed everyone in my class to look at the eclipse safely. With this quick, easy, and safe method, you put the sun at your back and look at the projected image on a nearby surface or the ground.
If you have more time, you can make an eclipse projector using a cardboard box, a white sheet of paper, tape, scissors, and aluminum foil. NASA has some excellent instructions on their website, but basically, with this box, the light from the sun behind you projects the crescent-shaped sun onto the white sheet of paper taped to the inside of the box. The shapes change and vary in number as the eclipse progresses.
Preparing younger children
It is especially important to prepare younger children and children with special needs for the eclipse. Remind them that it will get dark outside, even though it is daytime. If they are nervous about the darkness outside during the daytime, a parent, teacher, or caregiver can turn on a timer for the 3-4 minutes of darkness. Consider allowing the children to practice wearing the special sunglasses or using the viewers before the day of the eclipse. You may also want to make sure they have a sweater or jacket, as it often becomes chilly when the sun is obscured. If you choose to make a viewing box or pinhole projector with them, they can decorate it in preparation for the special day.
One final piece of advice is to make sure everyone is wearing sunscreen or long sleeves and a hat. We tend to get so absorbed watching the eclipse that we forget that we are out in the sun, sometimes for several hours.
I hope everyone has a chance to enjoy this special day, be it the partial eclipse that will be visible in New Mexico, or the complete eclipse if traveling to a nearby area such as Texas.