Ahead of the upcoming passage of Mercury in front of the sun, UK astronomer and TV presenter Mark Thompson shows the shocking potential consequences of staring at the sun - using a real eye.
In the footage, Thompson uses a pig's eye to show the damage that can be caused to the eye's cornea, lens and retina.
He holds the eye close to the eyepiece of the telescope and - after just 20 seconds - smoke starts coming out of the eye and a hole is burnt through the cornea and the lens.
After dissecting it, Thompson also realises that the retina has a brown spot - likely to have been caused by the sun.
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