Why should never see the sun through binoculars?

An English astronomer has wondered how to make a video explaining why we should not look directly at the sun, especially when using binoculars or space telescopes.

Next week, Mercury will pass in front of the Sun, an event predicted to attract many astronomers interested in watching and directly observing. To highlight the risks of using an optical device to stare at a glowing ball of light, British astronomer and TV MC Mark Thompson made a video to show what can happen.

In the video, Mr. Thompson, who is best known as the Stargazing Live host of the BBC news agency, used pig eyes to buy at a local slaughter store. The reason Mr. Thompson chose to do pig eye experiments is that they are similar to the human eye biologically, although not identical.

Due to the intensity of the light, staring straight at the sun can lead to momentary blindness.

Mr. Thompson uses an 80mm telescope with a magnification of 50 times to prove the impact on the skin. The expert said that after 20 seconds, the pig's eyes began to smoke and smell the smell when the sun's rays focused on the surface of the eye that heated the tissue. Consequently, scorch marks pierce the cornea and the lens of the eye, creating a hole through the eyeball.

Mr. Thompson then injured the eyeball surgery to consider internal damage."It seems that there is a brown patch near the optic nerve, which can be sun damage. If this is the human eye, it is almost certainly a relatively serious damage. That's why looking straight at the sun through a telescope is a very bad idea , "Mr. Thompson explained.

According to Mr. Thompson, experimenting with pig eyes has shown that the level of damage can be caused by the high concentration of sunlight on the eyes. In this respect, the damage caused by infrared light when it heats tissue is similar to the way a magnifying glass is placed on a newspaper in the hot sun.

Due to the intensity of the light , staring straight at the sun can lead to blindness , when dark spots appear in view, resulting from the bleaching of light-sensitive pigments. Retinal. However, in addition to intensity, the sun also emits ultraviolet light. The American Institute of Ophthalmology warns that excessive exposure to this light may increase the risk of developing illnesses, such as cataracts, eye tumors or even cancer.

The British Astronomical Society (BAA) also recommends that the sun be "a dangerous object to observe". BAA said: " Observe the sun through any optical instrument, whether a binoculars or viewfinder attached to the telescope, can cause immediate and permanent blindness."