How To Build Your Own Eclipse Viewer
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TechTranscript
00:00Ah, this is so cool!
00:06On August 21st, people across the United States
00:09will have a rare opportunity to catch a glimpse of a total solar eclipse.
00:13During an eclipse, the Sun, Earth, and Moon align during the daytime
00:18so that the Moon blocks the light of the Sun, either partially or completely.
00:22Even during a total eclipse, looking directly at the Sun can cause severe eye damage.
00:27So what are your options? Well, you could build a personal solar eclipse viewer,
00:32kind of like a movie theater for an audience of one.
00:34Here's what you'll need.
00:36A cardboard box, any type of shoe box will do, a piece of white paper,
00:40a pin or a needle, a piece of tin foil, an exacto knife, and some tape.
00:45Let's get started.
00:47First, we're going to cut a small hole in the box about one inch across near the top.
00:52Next, we are going to cover that hole with a piece of tin foil.
00:58Then we are going to poke a hole in the tin foil, right in the middle.
01:03So the pinhole is going to be your aperture.
01:05That's how the image of the Sun is going to project on the inside of the box.
01:09So now we're going to tape the piece of paper to the inside,
01:11and that's going to be your projection screen.
01:13And we're taping it right across from the hole you just made.
01:16Now the last thing you're going to need to do is cut a viewing hole.
01:19And you're going to do that on the side of the box that's adjacent to the screen
01:23and a little bit closer to your aperture.
01:25And you want your hole to be about an inch in diameter.
01:28So you have your viewing hole, your aperture, and your projection screen.
01:33Let's go test it.
01:35So to test your viewer, you're going to take it outside on a sunny day.
01:38Now remember, don't look directly at the sun.
01:40You're going to hold up your viewer so that the aperture, the piece of tin foil with the hole in it,
01:45that's facing the sun.
01:46The sun is going to project through that inside the box.
01:48And what you're going to do is you're going to look inside the viewing hole,
01:52and you will see a projection of the sun inside the box.
01:58I can totally see the sun.
02:00And so during a total eclipse, you'll be able to see the shadow of the moon moving across the sun
02:05and without frying your eyeballs.
02:07This is Mindy Weisberger for Live Science.
02:09Happy eclipse viewing.
02:11day 1 in October.
02:15You've raised about a tiny mountain rate.
02:17Find the moon above the moon level that includes German cookies CEIL's crowds with the major
02:17of the moon above the moon before the moon above the moon above the moon above the moon above the moon above.
02:19Hmmm, I don't know.
02:21Am I're Suzanne
02:30How are you smiling and oven calculators?
02:33I'm so glad to see the solar beam in there.