Guest Editorial
Solar Eclipse Safety
A total eclipse of the sun is a memorable event, t'2 A strange yellow twilight and short peculiar shadows
arise as the moon begins to cover the solar disc. Then the sky darkens for a few minutes as the moon
completely obscures the solar disc. Temperatures fall. Daytime blossoms begin to close. Birds roost. A night-
time insect chorus begins. The sun's corona and brighter stars are visible if the sky is clear. Then daylight
returns. Eclipses once caused apprehension and fear. People now travel thousands of miles to experience
them.
The beauty of a solar eclipse results from a remarkable coincidence: the sun and moon appear roughly
the same size in the sky, because the sun is about 400 times larger than the moon but about 400 times
farther from the earth than the moon.~'2 The moon always casts a shadow. When the sun, moon, and earth
are properly aligned, however, the moon's umbra can travel across the earth, producing a total or umbral
eclipse of the sun. Since the orbit of the earth about the sun and the orbit of the moon about the earth are
both ellipses rather than circles, the sun can appear slightly larger when the earth is closer to it and the
moon can appear slightly smaller when the earth is farther from it. A solar eclipse under those circumstances
is called an annular eclipse', with the moon obscuring most but not all of the solar disc. Solar eclipses are
rare because the plane of the earth's orbit about the sun (the ecliptic) differs from the plane of the moon's
orbit about the earth.
The next total eclipse of the sun will occur on February 26, 1998. ~-4 The moon's shadow will sweep
across the Galapagos Islands, over the Colombian-Panamanian border and across the Lesser Antilles and
Leeward Islands) The southeastern United States will experience a partial, or penumbral eclipse, most
prominent in south Florida, where over 40% of the sun's disc will be obscured. 3 The next total eclipse of
the sun won't take place in the United States until August 21, 2017. 2
Over 90% of the solar disc must be obscured for there to be a perceptible decrease in daylight, 4 so the
February 26, 1998 eclipse will not be noticed by most people in the United States. Those who do observe
it, and observe it improperly, risk permanent macular injury and vision loss.
The retinal image of the sun at its zenith is 160 microns in diameter, about 20% of the area of the 350-
micron diameter foveola. 5-7 With a constricted 3-mm pupil, solar observation produces only a 4°C retinal
temperature rise, well below the 10°-20°C increase needed for retinal photocoagulation. 5"6 Thus, solar
retinopathy is a photochemical retinal injury (phototoxicity), not retinal photocoagulation. 5'6 Temperature
increases high enough to cause photocoagulation can occur, however, if the sun is observed through a dilated
pupil or an optical device. 5 One of Galileo Galilei's eyes was reportedly injured when he viewed the sun
through his newly invented refracting telescope, s Retinal temperature elevations below photocoagulation
levels may accelerate phototoxicity, and the retinal temperature increase from solar observation is twice as
great in a pseudophake with an intraocular lens that doesn't have ultraviolet-protecting chromophores as it
is in a person with a normal crystalline lens. 6
Solar retinopathy occurs with or without eclipses] It occurs in sun-gazers as well as in young people
with clear crystalline lenses who deny sun-gazing. 9 It can be mild or severe, producing no vision loss or
permanently decreased visual acuity. Months after the acute yellow-whitish foveal lesion fades, there may
be no apparent foveal damage or there may be foveal distortion, pigment mottling, or even a macular hole. m
Differences in the severity of solar lesions are due to differences in viewing circumstances and individual
ocular defense mechanisms. Prolonged observation with good fixation causes the most severe damage, so
direct solar eclipse observation through an inadequate optical filter is a worst case situation, one in which
there is good foveation and increased pupil diameter.
Most people briefly glimpse the sun inadvertently without any injury. It has been known for millennia,
however, that prolonged solar observation can cause vision loss. The ancient Greeks knew that eclipse
viewing was unsafe, but their method of observing an eclipse through reflections in a pool of water is
hazardous. 8
Ophthalmology Volume 105, Number 1, January •998
The safest way to view an eclipse is to use a pinhole to form a solar image on a nearby piece of cardboard,
or to use a flat mirror to form an image on a wall a few meters away. ''2"4'8~1 Only the cardboard or wall
should be viewed, not the direct image of the sun. An optical device can be used to form a solar image on
the cardboard or wall, but it should never be used to view the sun directly. People who aren't satisfied with
these indirect methods of solar observation risk permanent ocular injury.
It is safe to look directly at the moon during totality, the few minutes during a total solar eclipse when
the moon totally obscures the sun. Filters are unnecessary during totality, and hamper solar corona observation.
It is important to look away immediately when the first glimpse of sunlight heralds the end of totality. It is
never safe to observe the sun directly or to view a partial or annular eclipse of the sun directly. It is never
safe to view an eclipse through binoculars, sunglasses, exposed photographic or radiographic film, or through
any optical filter that has not been carefully tested and certified as being safe for solar observation.
Welding filters with a shade-number 14 rating and aluminized Mylar film filters have been suggested as
safe ways to observe the sun or a partial eclipse of the sun directly. ~2 A welder's shade-number 14 filter has
an optical density o f 5.57, reducing visible light transmission by a factor of 372,000. 8"'~'t2 Typical Mylar
filters that are sold for solar observation have an optical density of 5, reducing visible light transmission by
a factor of 100,000.
Both of these types of filters reduce retinal irradiance to levels far too low for photocoagulation. Typical
solar retinopathy is caused by retinal phototoxicity, however, not retinal photocoagulation. Photochemical
retinal damage is a complex, poorly understood combination of processes. 7 Its effects may not appear for
years after an injury, and may not be readily distinguishable from ordinary macular aging. Ultraviolet and
blue light are more phototoxic than longer wavelengths, prior photochemical retinal damage and photosensitiz-
ing drugs increase individual susceptibility, and retinal phototoxicity is implicated in the pathogenesis of
age-related macular degeneration. 6'W4 Children are at greatest risk of phototoxicity because their clear
crystalline lenses may transmit some ultraviolet radiation, 15 so parents should be advised to prevent their
children from gazing at a solar eclipse.
Totality is the most spectacular phase of a total solar eclipse for most people. For partial solar eclipses,
there are many indirect ways to observe the sun effectively and safely. It is ultimately a personal decision
to entrust one's visual future to an optical filter manufacturer by using a filter to view the sun directly when
it isn't totally eclipsed by the moon.
,The moon is opaque. It will be opaque. If I ' m fortunate enough to witness another total solar eclipse, I'll
trust the moon for my macular protection during totality, and use indirect observational methods at other
times. A total eclipse of the sun is an extraordinary natural event. It should leave lasting memories, not
permanent disabilities.
References
1. Ottewell G. The Understanding of Eclipses. Greenville, SC: Furman University Press, 1991.
2. Littmann M, Willcox K. Totality: Eclipses of the Sun. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1991.
3. Espenak F. Coming attractions: a solar-eclipse sneak preview. Sky & Telescope 1996;92(2):48-51.
4. Chartrand MR, Wimmer HK. Skyguide: A Field Guide to the Heavens. New York: Golden Press, 1990.
5. White TJ, Mainster MA, Wilson PW, Tips JH. Chorioretinal temperature increases from solar observation. Bull
Math Biophys 1971; 33:1 - 17.
6. Mainster MA. Solar retinitis, photic maculopathy and the pseudophakic eye. Am Intraocular Implant Soc J
1978;4:84-6.
7. Mainster MA. Photic retinal injury. In: Ryan SJ, ed. Retina. St. Louis: CV Mosby, 1989; vol 2, chapter 109.
8. Sliney DH, Wolbarsht ML. Safety with Lasers and Other Optical Sojarces. New York: Plenum, 1980.
9. Gladstone GJ, Tasman W. Solar retinitis after minimal exposure. Arch Ophthalmol 1978;96:1368-9.
10. Gass JDM. Stereoscopic Atlas of Macular Diseases, 3rd ed. vol. 2. St. Louis: CV Mosby, 1987;570-3.
11. Marsh JCD. Observing the sun in safety. J Br Astron Assoc 1982;92:257-9.
12. Chou BR. Safe solar filters. Sky&Telescope 1981; 62(2): 119-21.
13. Mainster MA. Light and macular degeneration: a biophysical and clinical perspective. Eye 1987; 1:304-10.
14. Harlan JB, Weidenthal DT, Green WR. Histological study of a shielded macula. Retina 1997; 17:232-8.
15. Boettner EA, Wolter JR. Transmission of the ocular media. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 1962; 1:776-83.
MARTIN A. MAINSTER,MD, PhD
Kansas City, Kansas
10
