Tonight’s the night: from just after 6.15pm, around 93% of the sun will vanish over south Wales, the deepest eclipse seen from here since 1999.
The rule with no exceptions comes from the College of Optometrists, which has issued advice ahead of this evening: it is never safe to look directly at the sun during the eclipse, at any stage, even for a moment.
Even at the 7pm peak, the sliver of sun still showing shines at full surface brightness, and it is more than enough to burn the retina at the back of the eye.
The danger is that the burn is painless. The retina has no pain receptors, so nothing hurts while the damage is being done, and it may not be noticed for several hours.
By then it can be permanent. Solar retinopathy shows up as blurred central vision, a grey or blind spot in the middle of sight, distorted lines or washed-out colours, and no treatment reliably reverses it.
Sunglasses are not protection, the College warns, however dark the lenses, and stacking several pairs together does not make them safe.
The only safe way to look directly is through proper eclipse glasses with certified solar filters, made to the ISO 12312-2 standard and carrying a CE or UKCA mark.
Check them before use: any scratch, pinhole or crease means the pair goes in the bin, not on your face. Genuine glasses come from reputable suppliers, not unverified marketplace sellers, and children wearing them need supervising.
Never look through binoculars, a telescope, a camera or a phone without proper solar filters fitted, even just to line up a shot. The College warns that this still puts you at risk, because lenses concentrate the light.
No glasses? A pinhole in a piece of card projects the sun’s crescent safely onto a second card behind it, and a colander held up to the sun casts dozens of tiny crescents on the ground.
One more thing about tonight in particular: the eclipse plays out low in the western sky across the evening drive, from just after 6.15pm to around 8pm. If you want to watch, do it parked and stopped, never from behind the wheel.
If your vision seems blurred or spotted in the hours after watching, see an optician promptly rather than waiting for it to settle.
Cloud is the only thing that can spoil the view legitimately. The next total eclipse visible from Wales is not until 2090, and tonight’s clear-sky bonus, the Perseid meteor shower peaking in the darkness afterwards, makes it a double bill worth doing safely.
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