Complete 2017 Eclipse Guide – How To Watch The Eclipse Safely: DIY Viewers & Eclipse Info Round Up

With the 100 year full solar eclipse coming tomorrow, many are looking for ways to view it safely. And, sadly, most stores are sold out of viewing glasses and other apparatus. Never fear, the Sci-Fi Bloggers 2017 Solar Eclipse Viewing Round-Up is here!

First, there are multiple ways to view the eclipse safely. The way NOT to view it, is to look directly at the sun, even when it’s dark. The light is still there and it can permanently and severely damage your eyes. This is true even if you’re looking through a lens or other object such as UV blocking sunglasses.

The above shows what happens to your eye as well. So before we begin, here’s a list of Eclipse DONT’s.

1. DON’T look directly at the sun ever;
2. DON’T look directly at the sun through sunglasses. Sunglasses will not protect your eyes from direct sunlight. UV sunglasses WILL NOT protect your eyes. Polarized glasses will NOT protect your eyes.
3. DON’T look directly at the sun through a telescope or camera lens or any other type of lens.
4. DON’T use any glasses or lens that isn’t ISO 12312-2 certified. Any other will damage your eyes.

If you’re planning to purchase viewing glasses or lenses, check out the complete safety viewing and resource guide from Space.com here.

Ok. Now that the lecture is over, let’s get to the fun stuff!

Here are some DIY methods you can use to view the eclipse safely.

Method 1: The cereal box viewer. You can also use a shoe box or any box really.

Method 2: Tube viewer. You can use a gift wrap tube or a Pringles tube or something similar.

Method 3: Telescopic Projection

5 Miscellaneous Methods: This video covers some DIY methods such as the paper plate method (another fav), as well as methods that you can buy.

Now that we’ve covered some DIY methods for viewing the eclipse, let’s take a look at what actually happens during the eclipse and why it’s such a big deal.

NASA will host a live stream on Eclipse day with a pre-show starting at noon Eastern and full eclipse coverage beginning at 1 pm.

You’ll be able to view NASA’s eclipse live stream coverage from multiple locations including NASA TV, their website, Twitch, Facebook and Twitter/Periscope. They also have NASA Apps for Fire TV, iOS, Android and Apple TV.

They’ve put together an official 2017 Eclipse page featuring a variety of resources including:

1. Map of official NASA eclipse viewing sites;
2. NASA Eclipse events directory;
3. Eclipse party guides;
4. Eclipse science info.

To watch the eclipse in your area, you can enter your zip code or city here to check the schedule of when the eclipse will happen over your city.

You can watch more eclipse related videos on our Sci-Fi IRL playlist on YouTube.

Enjoy this once in a lifetime opportunity to enjoy the 2017 total solar eclipse!

 

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