How to watch without hurting your eyes
There is no moment during this eclipse when it is safe to look at the Sun with unprotected eyes. Not at maximum, not when it looks dim, not through cloud. The UK and Ireland see a partial eclipse only, so a bright sliver of the Sun’s surface is exposed the entire time.
What works
- Eclipse glasses certified to ISO 12312-2. They should carry that number printed on them. Check them against a bright lamp first: if you can see anything other than the lamp’s filament, or if they are scratched, torn or creased, throw them away.
- A pinhole projector. Free, and completely safe because you never look at the Sun at all. Make a small hole in a piece of card, stand with your back to the Sun, and let the light fall through the hole onto a second piece of card. You will see a crescent. A kitchen colander casts dozens at once.
- Shade under a leafy tree. The gaps between leaves work as pinholes. During a 90% eclipse the ground under a tree is covered in crescents. This is the easiest and most striking way to watch, and it costs nothing.
What does not work
- Sunglasses, however dark, and however many pairs you stack.
- Smoked glass, exposed photographic film, or a CD.
- Looking through a phone camera to compose a shot.
- A telescope, binoculars or a camera lens - even with eclipse glasses on. They concentrate the light and will burn through the filter and then through your eye. Those need a proper solar filter fitted over the front of the instrument.
Where to get them
Absolute Eclipse make theirs in Latvia and publish the independent EN ISO 12312-2 test report and a conformity declaration for each batch, which is the thing worth checking - a marketplace listing can print the same number on the card without ever having been tested against it.
- £5.00
Stranded paper glassesThe default. Certified card-and-filter glasses, sold singly or in packs of 6, 10 and up for a street or a school.
- £5.00
Doodle paper glassesThe same filter and the same certification behind a different print, for anyone who would rather not hand out identical pairs.
- £18.00
Clip-ons for prescription framesClips onto your own spectacles, so you keep your prescription and the filter at once. The hinge flips up, which matters over an eclipse this long - you can look away and back without taking anything off. OD 4.8, EN ISO 12312-2:2015, CE Category II.
Absolute Eclipse price and charge in euros. The pounds above are rounded up a little to save you the arithmetic, so the checkout should come to slightly less rather than more - but your card is billed in euros and your bank sets the rate.
These are affiliate links: buy through one and this site earns a small commission, at no extra cost to you. It pays for the hosting and it has no bearing on what is recommended - the advice here is the same advice that was here before the links were.
The particular risk this time
This eclipse happens with the Sun low in the west, between about 2° and 23° above the horizon depending on where you are and when you look. A low Sun looks dim and feels comfortable to stare at, because the atmosphere is filtering out the glare. It is not filtering out the infrared and ultraviolet that actually damage your retina. A comfortable-looking Sun is exactly as dangerous as a blinding one, and retinal burns are painless - you would not know until hours later.
Children
Glasses slip off small faces. Pinhole projection or tree shade is the better option for young children, and it holds their attention longer anyway.