It’s possible, but the hazard is often exaggerated. Even at midday, a normal eye will only let in enough light to heat the retina by about 4°C. You need at least 10°C to cause thermal damage. Looking at the Sun during an eclipse for more than a minute can cause damage, because your pupils are more dilated during this, but it doesn’t result in total blindness and isn’t usually permanent. If the Sun is within 10 minutes of setting below a sea-level horizon, the more dangerous short-wavelength light is absorbed by the atmosphere and it should be quite safe to look at the Sun.
Can you really go blind by staring at the Sun?
| Source: | http://www.sciencefocus.com/qa/can-you-really-go-blind-staring-sun |
| Published: | Aug 21, 2017 |
| Author: | Steven A Collins |
| Post Date: | 2017-08-21 10:54:04 by no gnu taxes |
| Views: | 9043 |
#1: Vicomte13 To: no gnu taxes (#0)
It isn't just during an eclipse. Stare at the sun on any day, and you'll burn your retinas blind. But who stares into the Sun? It's when there's an eclipse that the problem comes, because everybody wants to LOOK, and when looking, people are drawn to stare. And that will leave you blind.
Vicomte13 posted on 2017-08-21 11:02:08 Reply Private Reply
#2: rlk To: no gnu taxes (#0)
Try it and find out...
rlk posted on 2017-08-21 11:03:41 Reply Private Reply
#3: misterwhite To: Vicomte13 (#1)
misterwhite posted on 2017-08-21 11:21:51 Reply Private Reply
#4: Tooconservative To: Vicomte13 (#1)
I do think this is a little overhyped.
Tooconservative posted on 2017-08-21 11:51:24 Reply Private Reply
#5: VxH To: no gnu taxes (#0)
VxH posted on 2017-08-21 12:39:32 Reply Private Reply
#6: Vicomte13 To: Tooconservative (#4)
Yes. A one second, two second glance isn't going to do anything. But 15-18 seconds will leave you with a blind spot for life. That's not a huge margin. I'll go out at the eclipse and glance at it when it happens, but that's just it - a glance - no staring at it.
Stare at the midday sun for more than a few seconds on any day and you will be blind for life.
Vicomte13 posted on 2017-08-21 12:50:25 Reply Private Reply
#7: Tooconservative To: Vicomte13 (#6)
Tooconservative posted on 2017-08-21 14:27:33 Reply Private Reply
#8: no gnu taxes To: Vicomte13 (#6)
................................
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=102708
I have done some research on this topic. From what I have found, no one has ever gone totally and permanently blind from looking at the Sun. Solar retinopathy (retinal damage from looking at the Sun) is, however, a complicated issue.
The damage comes mostly from ultraviolet light which can damage chemicals in your eye. Many people claim erroneously that infra-red can cook your eye, but this is almost certainly not true; IR light is not absorbed well by your eye. In general, your pupil constricts so rapidly that there isn't time to hurt your eye easily. Staring at the Sun can indeed damage your retina, but there are many cases of full recovery from people who have looked at the Sun for long periods of time. Interestingly, the pupil blocks just barely enough light (on average) to prevent damage; so in some of the population the pupil does not constrict enough. The lens also yellows with age, protecting older people more from the UV light. Therefore, children are more susceptible to damage than adults.
All in all, better safe than sorry; avoid staring at the Sun.
The reason solar eclipses are dangerous is because during totality the pupil dilates, letting in more light since the Sun is blocked. When the Moon slips off the Sun, even the thin sliver of solar surface can be enough to flood your retina with damaging photons, since the pupil is wide open.
A very interesting website with a lot of information has been put together by astronomer Andrew Young. He also puts to rest the legend that Galileo went blind by looking at the Sun; he has excellent counter-evidence for that.
no gnu taxes posted on 2017-08-21 14:46:17 Reply Private Reply
#9: Willie Green To: Tooconservative (#7)
Willie Green posted on 2017-08-21 15:08:28 Reply Private Reply
#10: Vicomte13 To: Tooconservative (#7)
Vicomte13 posted on 2017-08-21 15:48:27 Reply Private Reply
#11: Vicomte13 To: Tooconservative (#7)
"If I look hard enough into the setting sun, My love will laugh with me until the morning comes." - Rolling Stones
Vicomte13 posted on 2017-08-21 15:52:27 Reply Private Reply
#12: Hondo68 To: Vicomte13, Blind Trumpkins (#11)
http://ijr.com/the-declaration/2017/08/953203-jeff-sessions-watching-solar-eclipse-pure-thing-internet/
Hondo68 posted on 2017-08-21 18:36:20 Reply Private Reply
#13: misterwhite To: no gnu taxes (#0)
You're confusing that with masturbation.
misterwhite posted on 2017-08-21 18:59:35 Reply Private Reply
#14: misterwhite To: VxH (#5)
misterwhite posted on 2017-08-21 19:02:01 Reply Private Reply
#15: Vicomte13 To: misterwhite (#14)
Vicomte13 posted on 2017-08-21 19:12:56 Reply Private Reply
#16: Pinguinite To: Vicomte13 (#15)
Not sure if you're being sarcastic, but I'm sure the Spanish arriving at the end was not intended to be a happy ending. As per the movie title, it was more a revelation that the warring factions, while fighting amongst themselves, were oblivious to a greater threat that made their differences insignificant. It was an illustration of foolishness, and a message perhaps intended for the contemporary world.
Pinguinite posted on 2017-08-22 02:24:32 Reply Private Reply
#17: Vicomte13 To: Pinguinite (#16)
Ironic.
Vicomte13 posted on 2017-08-22 08:21:37 Reply Private Reply
#18: Tooconservative To: hondo68, Vicomte13, misterwhite (#12)
Eclipse glasses are for cucks
To cleanse the palate. What was the one rule every eclipse-watcher knew by heart this morning? Right — don’t look directly at it without special filtered glasses. (Except during the 90 seconds or so of totality, when it’s fine.) Newspapers are littered with stories today about imbeciles who did that in previous eclipses, believing they were invincible, and ended up paying the price. Many more imbeciles did it today as well, of course, and are also paying the price. Word circulated this afternoon that the president himself would observe the eclipse today from the Truman balcony of the White House, which naturally kicked off a round of speculation. Was he, er, going to wear the glasses? Or would he go full Trump? Remember, he hates following conventional wisdom.
Trump critics imagined the fallout if he decided to “go commando,” as it were:
— leon (@leyawn) August 21, 2017
— Jason O. Gilbert (@gilbertjasono) August 21, 2017
He did, in fact, wear the glasses as the sun passed over D.C. — for the most part. But some of the still photos taken while he was on the balcony caught him sneaking glimpses without the protective eyewear, producing unintentionally hilarious photos that make it look like Trump was staring right into the heart of doom despite the omnipresent warnings not to do that. CNN (who else?) has no fewer than three pictures of Trump looking right at it. There was no totality in Washington rendering it safe to look, either. The sun was 81 percent obscured, still plenty visible enough to cause damage.
This is the moment Trump became president:
— Business Insider (@businessinsider) August 21, 2017
Is the president blind now? Nah. I think it’s just a case of the still photos being deceptive. He did sneak a few glimpses without the glasses, as you’ll see in this clip, but they were split-second peeks. The “Trump blinded himself by staring at the eclipse” story is, I dare say, fake news:
— NBC News (@NBCNews) August 21, 2017
He’ll be okay. I … think.
But wait — who’s that guy standing off to the side on the balcony with him? Could it be…?
— Joe Perticone (@JoePerticone) August 21, 2017
Jeff Sessions hanging out with Trump at the White House? When did that rift get healed? Is it an eclipse miracle or did John Kelly pull the president aside and explain that it’s really weird and unseemly for him to be feuding publicly with his own handpicked AG? Either way, the stars have aligned and nationalist America has witnessed a harmonic convergence between the president and his populist attorney general.
Update: This reads like a pitch-perfect parody of Jared and Ivanka constantly spinning themselves as the voice of reason inside the White House after Trump does something questionable, but it appears to be legit:
— Benjamin Landy (@Ben_Landy) August 21, 2017
Tooconservative posted on 2017-08-23 07:31:34 Reply Private Reply
#19: Hondo68 To: Tooconservative (#18)
He thinks that he's pointing out Kim Jong Un's kamikaze nuke coming in out of the sun.
See, I told you that fat kid was dangerous!
Hondo68 posted on 2017-08-23 08:53:46 Reply Private Reply
#20: Tooconservative To: hondo68 (#19)
Tooconservative posted on 2017-08-23 11:52:16 Reply Private Reply
#21: misterwhite To: Tooconservative (#7)
Vulcans can.
We hear about Trump's father but not his mother. I say she's Vulcan, which is why Trump can look directly at the sun.
misterwhite posted on 2017-08-24 12:33:19 Reply Private Reply