Partial Eclipse of The Sun

Last Friday I saw the partial eclipse of the Sun in Northern France. My special eye protection was completely useless. When I looked at the Sun through them I saw nothing. It was cloudy and the clouds were sufficiently dense  to obscure the Sun so that I could view the eclipse safely without the use of special equipment. At times the clouds obscured the Sun completely. Towards the end of the eclipse the clouds thinned out and even a direct glance would probably have been dangerous. My instincts kicked in, in any case, and I averted my eyes without even thinking about it.

At one point 80% of the Sun was covered by the Moon.  I could swear that I perceived the Moon as a sphere rather than a flat object. The Sun appeared three dimensional too; a little bit like an ice cream scoop. I cannot for the life of me understand why ancient man, and indeed some modern humans, could have ever believed that the Earth, Sun and Moon were flat.

To those Head Teachers, in the UK, who prevented their pupils from observing the eclipse, either directly through specially approved glasses or indirectly via a pin hole projection onto a white card, I say shame on you.

From where I was it was perfectly safe to look at the Sun with the naked eye but assisted by quite thick clouds. Had my young son or daughter been with me then I would gladly have allowed them to see  this wonderful sight in this way too.

It is far better to educate our children how to observe the Sun safely rather than deny them the opportunity because of misguided and silly views on safety. An ill educated child could quite easily and mistakenly look at the Sun through binoculars because they are not aware dangers through the actions of over protective teachers and parents.