A WARNING

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 8, Issue 39, 12 January 1945, Page 5

A WARNING

WATCHING THE ECLIPSE

DANGER TO EYESIGHT

Eye specialists and astronomers have warned the public- not to viewnext Sunday's partial eclipse of the sun with the naked eye, sun glasses or field glasses. The eclipse will be visible throughout Australia and New Zealand. Scores of cases of permanently ruined eyesight were reported to the Australian Ophthalmological Society after the eclipse on August 1 1943. The Government Mr H. said any glasses were dangerous for viewing the eclipse unless specially constructed for that purpose. The best thing to use was a piece of exposed and developed photographic film which should be so dark that it would be impossible to see a sheet of white paper through it in the sunlight. An eye specialist said glasses which have been sooted with a deposit of carbon on them afforded protection I but since the sooting might be done ineffectively or the carbon rubbed off it was wiser not to watch the eclipse at all. Of the lour eclipses predicted to occur this, year only two, one of the sun and other of the moon will be '5 visible in New Zealand. The first, which will be an annular eclipse of the sun to the north of the Domin- ' ion, will be visible here only as a> large partial eclipse on Sunday. A partial eclipse of the moon occuring after midnight on June 25 will also be visible here but the. remain•9 ing two, an eclipse of the sun on July 10 and a total eclipse of the • moon on December 19 next will not 9 be visible at any stage from this ■country.