Bill Lear (I think) challenged Emily Winterburn's advice on the eclipse. This was her reply
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while it is true that it is the UV from the Sun that causes eye damage, and that it is that glare rather than the damage being caused that makes it painful to look at the Sun under normal circumstances (and indeed in partial eclipse) it is not true to say that looking at a total eclipsed Sun during totality is dangerous.
During totality UV as well as visible light is blocked out. This is the only time it is safe to look at the Sun with the naked eye, and people have been doing just that for hundreds of years. If you were to look at totality through welders glasses you would see nothing at all.
Emily Winterburn Assistant Astronomy Officer Royal Observatory, Greenwich London SE10 9NF Tel: +44 (0)20 8312 6537 Fax: +44 ())20 8312 6734 http://www.rog.nmm.ac.uk
-- Jim heartfield