00:00It's six days to totality. And here's everything that you need to know about how to safely watch
00:04each stage of the August 12 total solar eclipse. First things first it is never safe to look
00:09directly at the sun with the naked eye. It is after all a colossal incandescent radiation
00:14factory capable of burning your corneas in less than a second leading to permanent loss of vision
00:19and we don't want that. So if you want to watch the eclipse in safety you'll have to get your
00:23hands on a pair of quality eclipse glasses which work to block out 99.999% of the sun's harmful
00:28light allowing us to gaze directly on its surface without the fear of becoming an alarming google
00:32trend in the days that follow. Now eclipse glasses come in many shapes and sizes ranging from your
00:37classic cardboard and film pairs like these from absolute eclipse to handy glasses clip-ons and
00:42swankier pairs including these ones from telescope manufacturer Celestron who also made binoculars
00:47specifically designed for observing the sun. Do not use normal binoculars to observe the sun
00:53while it's visible. Look at me. When it comes to eclipse glasses it's imperative that you
00:58get a pair that complies with the all-important ISO 12312-2 safety standard which is generally
01:05printed somewhere prominent where you can see it on the glasses or on the packaging or hopefully both
01:10and if they do match their ratings still never use them if they appear scratched or damaged.
01:15To stay on the safe side why not head over to space.com for links to quality eclipse glasses you
01:19can
01:20trust. Remember eclipse glasses must be worn during each partial phase of an eclipse before and after
01:26totality and during maximum eclipse if you're not in the path of totality. However if you are lucky
01:31enough to find yourself in that narrow band you can safely remove your eclipse glasses once 100% of
01:37the sun's disc is hidden behind the moon. Around this time the sun's atmosphere will be safe to view
01:42with the naked eye or even a pair of regular binoculars as it halos the lunar disc in the false
01:47twilight of totality. Just be sure to put the binoculars away and the eclipse glasses back on before the
01:53sun peeks out from the edge of the moon and remember that you can find out the exact timings for
01:57when
01:57the sun will reappear from your location using timeanddate.com or you can find a handy eclipse
02:02app which will actually set an alarm for you to tell you when to take your glasses off and put
02:06them
02:06back on. Remember they don't all have that so keep an eye out. It's not long to go now so
02:10make sure you
02:11tell us in the comments where you're watching from and what you're most looking forward to. I've been
02:16antony wood for space.com
