What happens if we stare at the Sun?

Those of us who know that looking directly at the Sun with our eyes is absolutely not recommended. But what would be the consequences if we kept staring at it?

Whether drawing stars, launching ships to planets or studying the Sun, people have been constantly looking up at the sky for thousands of years. But not all stars can observe safely.

Astronomer Mark Thompson kept a pig behind the lens pointing straight to the Sun for 20 seconds, resulting in a burning hole between the pig's eye. The Sun is also a star in the sky, but the idea of ​​looking at it like other stars is crazy. So how bad will it be if you stare at the Sun with your naked eye?

The Sun shines at 5,000 times the brightness of a light bulb.So do not look directly at the Sun because of direct damage to the eyes.(Photo: Wikimedia).

On a cloudless day, the Sun will glow 5,000 times the brightness of a standard light bulb. When something dazzling comes into your eyes, your body will have some reactions. If it's just a short moment, the worst thing you'll have to see is a blur that appears when you look at anything later. Light is transferred to the retina at the back of the eye, where it will transfer information to your brain. This is how we see everything.

But when too much light enters the retina at the same time, it destroys the cells and proteins here, which help the retina process the received light. Because the retina has no receptor that senses pain, it will not be damaged but will leave blur when you look later.

These blur will appear in a few minutes and then disappear, unless you continue to stare at the Sun. At that time, we ourselves made the retina overload. The eyes now receive an unusually high amount of ultraviolet radiation, which causes skin dullness. Just like sunburned skin, the cornea in front of the eye can also be burned and now your eyes will be damaged.

Depending on the time spent looking at the Sun and the severity caused by sunlight, the eyes will be damaged and have different recovery times.

The cornea functions to protect the rest of the eye, so it has pain receptors. This part is very sensitive, it will quickly alert the brain when an external object touches, even though it is a very small eyelash.

But ultraviolet radiation is not the only problem. Too much light will pass through the eyeball and damage the retinal tissue in the back, causing the sun's retinitis. At this time, the retina cannot handle light as it normally does, and your vision will be limited.

Depending on the severity, the recovery time of parts will take several weeks, months or more than a year. Many rare cases have been recorded, too severe damage caused irreversible eyes. Cases are noted in observers of eclipse without wearing protective glasses.

Our bodies have a protective mechanism that prevents us from staring at the Sun, for example, we will squint our eyes when looking at a light source that is too bright, reducing the amount of light entering our eyes and protecting us. cornea with the retina.

For eye protection when you need to look directly at the Sun, use specialized protective goggles.(Photo: Space.com).

When a solar eclipse occurs, the Sun is partially or completely obscured by the Moon, light is not strong, making us observe for a long time without the glare, which makes us think that we can observe this phenomenon. directly with the naked eye. But in fact ultraviolet radiation is still very much and still harms the eyes.

In short, direct observation of the Sun by eye is often a stupid idea that does not bring any benefit. Use protective goggles when observing. In the sky there are more than 6,000 stars, watch them any time you want, except the Sun star.