On Monday, April 8, 2024, 2:04-4:31 pm, Toronto will experience a near total solar eclipse.
You may be excited and nervous about the solar eclipse, scheduled to peak at 3:19 pm on April 8. As your helpful neighbourhood real estate professional, here are some tips to protect yourself and your family during this historical event:
- Only use reputable ISO 12312-2 certified viewers or filters to look at the sun.
- Sunglasses, cameras, binoculars, telescopes, DIY filters will not keep your eyes safe. The concentrated solar rays could damage the filter and enter your eyes, causing injury.
- Follow instructions carefully for your certified viewers. Don’t use for more than 3 minutes continuously.
- If the viewer produces a bright, unfocused or hazy sun image, don’t use it.
- Watch kids closely. Because their eyes let in more light than adult eyes, they are at higher risk without proper eye protection.
- People with eye disease or recent eye surgery patients should not use viewers/filters and should avoid looking at the sun altogether.
- If you experience symptoms like vision loss or blurriness within 12-48 hours after viewing the eclipse, seek medical attention.
Take care and enjoy this remarkable event safely.
(image courtesy of NASA Science)