HOUSTON – Astronomy students at the University of Houston prepared for Monday’s eclipse.
They planned to use a small telescope to safely capture the moon covering about 2/3 of the sun. They will then stream the images online.
“It doesn’t happen every day,” said Dr. Lawrence Pinsky, a University of Houston physics professor. “And, as a matter of fact, the majority of people, on the Earth never have an opportunity to see a total eclipse of the sun.”
If you do not use proper eye protection, you could hurt your eyes, said Dr. Amber Gaume Giannoni, a University of Houston College of Optometry clinical professor.
"It's basically a sunburn of the back of your eye. But, it's not a sunburn like we traditionally think about. It's not painful. There's no nerve endings in the retina. So, you don't even know it's happening until a few hours later, (then) you have a blind spot." Giannoni said, "It's important to put the glasses on before looking directly at the sun. And then you're going to go ahead and do your viewing, and just make sure and look away before removing them.”