Chowan In Good Position To View Solar Eclipse Saturday
‘ GREENVILLE One good look at |
spactqcultr tolar eclipe can be a blinding
experience—literally!
Scientists at East Carolina University
hope their warning won’t scare oft poten
visitors to the campus on March 7
when one of nature’s rare spectaculars
takes place; but they agree that the risk
involved in viewing or photographing the
eclipse warrants careful precautions.
ECU is in the center of the path of total
ity' and preparations for the university’s
role as the hub of scientific activity are
being made. A vital aspect of these prepa
rations is the issuance of information re
garding the steps toward safe viewing.
The sun, for all its life-sustaining bene
ficence is no respector of retinae. It can
blind you, partially or totally, in one eye
or both, depending on how and for how
-long you look directly at it. Although
they may steal a quick glance in the sky
DANGER (
f SOLAR ECLIPSE MARCH 7, 1970
Saaglassos, smoked gloss, exposed photographic film, and weldor’s
goggles ARE NOT SAFI for watchiag the eclipse. Omly by indirect methods,
such as television or simple projection devkes, can this phenomenon be
observed without risking damage to the eyes, warns the National Society
for the Prevention of Blindness, Inc.
USE ONLY INDIRECT METHODS: \
: 1. Watch television. Without question, omo^p
the safest method for viewing a solar eclipse 7
Is by watching It on television.
;2. Use the Indirect pinhole method. A simple |^
£ projector for observing the eclipse can be made
with two pieces of white cardboard. A pinhole
or pencil hole In the top piece serves to project ’ML; rj ,U *' ACI
and focus the image of the eclipse on the second
piece. The size of the image can be changed by f j
altering the distance between the two pieces of
cardboard. DO NOT LOOK AT THE SUN THROUGH THE PINHOLE.
EYE DAMAGE DURING ECLIPSES:
In 1959, 170 people, mostly school children suffered oermanent damage to the sight of one
or both eyes.
In 1963, one-half of the country’s ophthalmologists reported 247 cases of visual damage.
ACCORDING TO MEDICAL AUTHORITIES:
The danger of the retinal burn comes from the invisible infrared rays which penetrate
light filters and instantaneously damage eyes. The retina is not sensitive to pain, hence
s forth the victim might not immediately be aware of eye damage. Retinal burns are incurable
and destroy the field of fine vision. The victim’s ability to read is lost forever.
The March 7 eclipse will be total in the eastern part of North Carolina. The next total eclipse
in the continental United States will occur in 1979 in the northwest corner of the United States.
The path of totality will be about 80 miles wide and will follow a line from Elizabethtown to
to Greenville before striking eastern Virginia and moving out into the Atlantic Ocean. Raleigh
and Wilmington will be just out of the path of totality. All parts of North America, except
Alaska, will experience the partial eclipse.
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THE CHOWAN HERALD, EPEHTON. HOBTH CANOUMA, THURSDAY. MARCH 5, I#7#.
■so see how the sun shines, people just
aren’t in the habit of staring at It.
Any strong light can hurt the eyes and it
just seems instinctive to avoid that con
tact. A five-second stare, for example,
could be sufficient to do permanent dam
age.
On impulse, folks will be tempted to
slip on their sunglasses to watch, -thinking
themselves safe. Don’t try it with sun
glasses. They fail to filter those rays of
the sun which can cause permanent dam
age. The same thing applies with cameras.
Even with the proper neutral density or
dark red filters mounted on the lenses of
reflex cameras, don’t chance looking
through the viewfinder. No camera view- 1
finder is safe to look through when aimed
at the sun.
There are, of course, several alternatives,
although some are chancier than others.
For example, a piece of heavily smoked
glass has sufficient filtration to permit
relatively safe viewing for short periods of
time. Simply take any piece of window
glass and move it slowly over the flame of
a burning candle until it is evenly and
heavily smoked on one side. One word of
caution: just a tiny smudge of the surface
can undo your work, ruin its effectiveness
and possible result in damage.
Another idea, safer but more involved,
is to build a small viewer using sheets of
aluminized plastic and evenly exposed film.
Sandwich the film between two pieces of
the plastic and, presto, a viewer. Tape the
edges together or mount your sandwich in
a cardboard slide mount (it doesn’t have
to be very big) and you remove the chance
of losing apiece. Aluminized plastic is
available inexpensively from any scien
tific supply house and a. , one who owns a
camera can expose film.
Dr. R. M. Helms and Dr. Floyd Matthies,
two ECU scientists heading up the eclipse
preparations, agree that neither of these
ideas should be recommended for children.
Their natural curiosity and their lack of
experience in following instructions could
cause them to remove any visual barriers
between them and the sun.
For everyone, but children especially,
the safest way to watch the eclipse is to
do so with the back to the sun. This can
be accomplished easily by constructing a
pinhole camera out of ordinary cardboard
or a discarded linoleum tube. Form a
rectangular box three or four feet long, or
cut a tube of that length. Close both ends.
Poke a hole approximately one-eighth of
an inch in diameter in the center of one
end. Attach a piece of white paper inside
at the base, cut a hole above it for pur-
Experts Agree Ueminoesly:
\\ TV Is Safest Method To View Pheaoaieaa
&
RALEIGH —The safest way to watch th<_
solar eclipse on March 7 is by viewing the
phenomenon on television, State School
Superintendent Craig Phillips advised
school children this week.
Paul Taylor, director of the Division of
Science Education for the Department of
Public Instruction, said, “Sunglasses, smok
ed glass, exposed photographic film and
welder’s goggles are not safe for watching
the eclipse. Only by indirect methods, such
as television or by the indirect pinhole
method can the eclipse be observed without
damage to the eyes.”
■ Thousands of handbills were mailed to
each school system last week to advise
children and their parents of possible eye
damage while watching the eclipse direct.
The National Society for the Prevention of
Blindness, Inc., and. other agencies are co
operating in advising the general public.
Taylor said the danger of the retinal
bum comes from the invisible infrared
rays which penetrate light filters and in
stantaneously damage eyes. The retina is
not sensitive to pain, henceforth, the victim
might not immediately be aware of eye
damage. Retinal burns are incurable and
destroy the field of fine vision. The vic
tim’s ability to read is lost forever.
In 1959, 170 people (mostly school child
ren), suffered permanent damage to the
sight of one or both eyes. In 1963,, one
half of the country’s ophthalmologists re
ported 247 cases of permanent damage.
“Teachers and parents should caution
children as to the possible dangers. With
out question the safest method for viewing
the solar eclipse is by watching it on tele
vision,” Phillips said.
RALEIGH—The executive director of the
N. C. State Commission for the Blind,
Grady R. Galloway, urged today that the
public refrain from any type of direct
viewing of Saturday’s eclipse, regardless of
whether they have protective devices which
supposedly screen solar ray:,.
Galloway said the state agency has is
sued memoranda to all its professional staff
citing the dangers of direct viewing of the
sun and asking the staff to “pass the word”
to everyone they know.
The agency stand is based on medical re
search, reported through the National As
sociation for Prevention of Blindness as
well as information reported to the Com
mission from North Carolina ophthalmolo
gists and residents, that reveals thousands
of persons suffer retinal burn each time an
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poses of viewing, and you are in business.
Simply aim the pinhole at the sun, stand
back to it, and view through the opening.
A “camera” made with a yard-long tube
or box will produce a solar image about a
half-inch in diameter and will be perfectly
safe.
Drs. Helms and Mattheis recommend that
anyone with doubts or questions about the
safety of any suggested method of viewing
contact a local physician, scientist, optician
or anyone whose credentials lend authority
on the subject, for advice on safe viewing..
If proper precautions are observed, and
they are relatively simple to achieve with
proper information, then there is no reason
why thousands of North Carolinians, in
cluding school children, cannot witness and
enjoy one of the true wonders of nature.
eclipse occurs.
Galloway said ophthalmologists associated
with the Commission say retinal bum is
not immediately detected because it is not
felt in the insensitive retina. Such burns
cause later complications in “fine” vision.
■An example of “fine seeing” is reading.
Medical and other evidence presented to
the Commission reveals that many miscon
ceptions prevail about viewing the sun dur
ing eclipse conditions, Galloway said.
“Most people realize, because of the dis
comfort involved, that it is unsafe to look
at the sun under everyday conditions,” he
said. “What they do not realize is that the
burning rays are not blocked during an
eclipse.”
“There is a popular, widespread but in
accurate belief that use of protective de
vices such as smoked glass and exposed
film will filter out the sun’s rays,” Gallo
way continued. “Our evidence is that such
protective devices, except in the hands of
highly trained experts, actually increase
the danger by prolonging the exposure.”
The Commission for the Blind has co
operated with other state and private agen
cies to distribute material across the state
warning against direct viewing during the
eclipse, Galloway said. “We have recom
mended that people, particularly families
with small children, watch the eclipse on
television or use an indirect method of
viewing."
One simple method of indirect viewing
utilizes two pieces of cardboard. The per
son observing places a pin hole in one
'piece of board, holds it toward the sun but
with his back to the sun, and catches the
reflection on the other board. The image
can be altered by increasing or decreasing
the distance between the two pieces of
cardboard.
Danger during Saturday’s eclipse is in
creased in North Carolina, Galloway said,
because totality will be reached in the
area. “We have placed emphasis on cir
culation of warning materials in the state,
particularly in the east, where 100 per cent
totality will occur.”
“But we still hear people talking about
watching the eclipse through smoked glass
"and exposed film. We feel it is our duty
to warn again that this is unsafe. We
know here at the Commission that the
sind of injury to the retina which occurs
during an eclipse is sneaky. Once the
damage occurs, it’s too late. Retinal burn
is incurable. The ability to read is worth
more than a peak at the sun.”
PAGE SEVEN
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