A DIY Eclipse Viewer! | The Source Weekly - Bend

A DIY Eclipse Viewer!

Blew it with the eclipse glasses? Maybe not. Use this guide!

A simple how-to for viewing the eclipse safely—by even using a copy of this newspaper.

Whatever your reasons for missing out on buying that simple pair of NASA-approved ISO 12312-2 eclipse viewing glasses, here you are, without a pair just before the eclipse.

Maybe you're holding a copy of the physical paper in your actual hands, whilst enjoying a festival in the middle of nowhere; or maybe you're holed up in your home and you're not going anywhere. However it happened, here you are.

You might not have the glasses, but don't worry, you can still watch the eclipse!

Start with:

-Two pieces of white, firm paper (if you're really stuck, use this newspaper!)

-A pair of scissors

-A piece of aluminum foil

-Tape

-A safety pin or paper clip

Directions:

Cut a square hole in one of the pieces of paper.



Cut a piece of aluminum foil into a square that is larger than the hole in the paper, and then tape the foil over the paper's hole.

Poke a hole into the foil at its center.

Place the other piece of paper on the ground. Then place the piece of paper containing the foil above it, with the foil facing toward you. Stand with the sun behind you, and look for an image of the sun on the piece of paper that's on the ground. Stand a little farther away and you'll notice the image on the lower paper gets even bigger.

NASA's pro tip
:
Make the projection stand out even more by putting the bottom piece of paper in a shadowed area, while keeping the upper/foil piece of paper in the sun.

Extra pro tip: Make more than one hole in your foil to have the sun's image appear multiple times.

Whatever you do, don't look at the sun during the eclipse—or anytime—without proper protection! Sunglasses don't count, people.