21 August 2017 — 0001 mdt

How Flathead Memo’s chief blogger will view the eclipse

I’m viewing it indirectly. In my judgement, there’s really no safe way to view the eclipse outsize the zone of totality, and certainly not in the Flathead, where ten percent of the sun will not be blocked. That’s enough sunlight to burn your retinas in just a few seconds.

Be wary of eclipse glasses. Even those with light blocking filters that meet NASA recommended specifications may have random, and minute, difficult or impossible to detect, defects that pass retina wrecking levels of light. I’m watching a projected image of the eclipse, using a viewer similar to the one described in this short video:

The eclipse begins at 1016, reaches its maximum at 1131, and ends at 1251. More at the Flathead Beacon.