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Total solar eclipse 13th November 2012

ricci

By ricci
in The Astro Lounge

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JB80

JB80

Posted
Posted

It would be nice to be down there for this.

Unfortunately the Australian Society of Opthalmologists are warning people away from viewing this event.

Some schools are already returning eclipse glasses because of these articles.

http://www.courierma...f-1226511772008

It's appearing in numerous news outlets too. :(

I understand the need for responsible safety measure but this sounds like sour grapes for them not being consulted.

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JamesF

JamesF

Posted
Posted

Scare-mongering at its best :( All sorts of ridiculous quotes and meaningless statistics. There will come a day when people will demand that the sun be permanently obscured. Not because it's dangerous to look at, but because they're scared of their own shadows...

James

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whooshbang

whooshbang

Posted
Posted

Knowing my luck I would go all the way out there, hire a boat and sit in the middle of the ocean in the sunshine waiting and then just as it started a cloud would appear out of nowhere and cover the sun for the duration. :embarrassed:

Just as wikipedia describes the 1999 eclipse..... "augmented by a passing wisp of cloud at the moment of peak eclipse"

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whooshbang

whooshbang

Posted
Posted

Scare-mongering at its best :( All sorts of ridiculous quotes and meaningless statistics.

James

"He said UK research done after the 1999 solar eclipse in southwest England found in people who suffered eye damage in that event, 14 per cent of retinal burns were from using solar filter spectacles."

Really? Thats a scary statistic considering 99.8% cloud cover!

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JamesF

JamesF

Posted
Posted

"He said UK research done after the 1999 solar eclipse in southwest England found in people who suffered eye damage in that event, 14 per cent of retinal burns were from using solar filter spectacles."

Really? Thats a scary statistic considering 99.8% cloud cover!

No it isn't. It's a completely useless statistic intended to cause fear without basis. How many people suffered retinal burns overall? Were these some cheap knock-off "solar filter" spectacles that they got from a mate at the market, or proper ones from a reputable source? Did they test them first? Was there actually a group of five or six people who shared the same pair of glasses and all got burns? Did they actually, genuinely use solar filters at all? Did they notice a fault and continue using them anyway?

If we added a statistic such as "100% of people who used solar filter spectacles from a reputable supplier in accordance with the instructions had no problems at all", would that change the interpretation of the first one?

Of course no-one should go around encouraging people to view the sun without the proper equipment, but this idiotic "Oooh! It's dangerous! Don't do it! Run away!" attitude beggars belief. Well, unless you want a human race that ends up too scared to open the front door in case the bogey man gets them.

James

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saturn5

saturn5

Posted
Posted

Couldn't agree more.Stupidity and ignorance seem to rule the waves these days.If people use common sense and proper viewing equipment then nearly all these retinal burns would have

been prevented.14% of people who watched the eclipse were using solar filter eyepieces its said.

How many i wonder had a little peep at the sun without them,just to see the difference when they

put them on.I've seen it on videos of eclipses ,people in the crowd moving their glasses up and down like Eric Morcambe.

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Mark at Beaufort

Mark at Beaufort

Posted
Posted

I recently went to California to view the annular eclipse (May 2012) and Venus Transit (June 2012) and because I have three granddaughters who live in San Francisco I bought eclipse glasses from the BAA (these have a UK British Standards approval stamped on them) FOR THEM TO USE. Even so I still checked each one (bought 4) before I left the UK.

As you note I am still typing and my son still talks to me - (he is an eye specialist in America) and he looked through the glasses and my PST - he trusted me!!

Now a story to show you need to be careful. I had a working colleague who loved astronomy and so did his daughter. She went on an official eclipse tour to Africa to view the total eclipse about 10 years ago. The tour organisers gave each member of the party eclipse glasses. After the event this lady told her husband she could not see and I am afraid as far as I know she is still blind today.

Although maybe the Australian advice might be over the top it is good to be careful at all times. Each time I use a white filter I check it to make sure it is still safe.

Mark

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JamesF

JamesF

Posted
Posted

Although maybe the Australian advice might be over the top it is good to be careful at all times. Each time I use a white filter I check it to make sure it is still safe.

There's no excuse for being stupid, certainly. But equally if you take the time to understand the issues and make sure you have the right equipment there's no need to run around in circles shrieking as if the sky is falling in. I'm not advocating being careless, I'm advocating being rational, and there seems to be precious little of that going on in the referenced news article.

For what it's worth, I can't understand why you'd get schoolchildren to use solar filter glasses anyhow. In that kind of situation I'd have thought solar projection would be more useful, interesting, safer and easier to do.

And for what it's worth I check my white light filters every single time I use them too.

James

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sologuitarist61

sologuitarist61

Posted
Posted

Just as wikipedia describes the 1999 eclipse..... "augmented by a passing wisp of cloud at the moment of peak eclipse"

Yep, I was in Cornwall at the time where totality was assured - but no one mentioned cloud which appeared on the day (full sun was forecast as I remember). The rest of my family scattered around the UK all saw it (less than total, but saw it none the less) from cloud-less skies! The Gods certainly don't like astronomers do they??

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