On 15 Aug 2013, at 14:34, Joe Bauman wrote:
Well, don't stare at the sun, regardless. Even when the smoke is dense enough to turn it deep red, I suspect it still can inflict eye damage. And that includes looking through a viewfinder. (And I suspect it could damage a camera with an electronic viewfinder.) -- Joe
Like Joe and Chuck and everyone else here who have commented, I too am always careful to stress the importance of safety when observing our home star. However, a while about I came across the following that pretty well refutes everything I've ever heard on the subject. I'm still going to continue to stress safety but I'd like to hear some thoughts from the folks here about this: Galileo, solar observing, and eye safety http://mintaka.sdsu.edu/GF/vision/Galileo.html The author notes he is an astronomer and not an ophthalmologist but a couple of the people he sites do have MDs and PhDs appropriate to the discussion. ??? patrick