How dangerous is Sungazing?

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How dangerous is it to observe the Sun? Can you ever safely observe the Sun? Or should you never look at the Sun? Not even at Sunrise and Sunset? Will i become blind if i observe the Sun at Sunrise and Sunset? Or do you only become Blind from Sungazing if you do it at the wrong Time? What are the Symptoms of Eye Damage caused by the Sun? Will i become soon Blind if i observed the Sun with my Eyes at Sunset?

It’s only potentially dangerous if you look at the Sun during a total or mostly total eclipse.

^Dude. This statement is silly.

The reason that they warn you not to stare at the sun during an eclipses is because the public is never tempted to stare at the sun at any other time. Not because an eclipse somehow makes staring directly at the Sun any worse than it always is. It ALWAYS dangerous to stare at the sun midday. Whether there is an eclipse going on or not.

To the OP: Dont ever stare directly at the sun.

The sun's light might be a little less intense at sunrise/sunset, but its still not safe to look directly at.

Remember too: The light sensitive part of your eye, the retina, cannot sense pain. The bright light will dazzle you, too. That means that there's no warning that your eyes are being damaged - until you realise later that there's a spot in your vision where you can't see anything any more!

Ive looked directly at the Sun many times.

Everything became normal after a few minutes.

This is because the eye spontaneously heals itself.

One shouldn’t directly look at the Sun—but it is VERY rarely dire if one happens to look at it directly.

The OP has expressed this fear many times before. He should go see an optometrist if he’s so concerned. He lives in Switzerland.

If you heard on the news that there were more sunspots than normal this year I wouldn't go outside and stare at the sun to see if you can count the spots on the sun (with or without a telescope).

Astronomers have special equipment that enables them to study the surface of the sun without going blind. Probably devices that project secondary pictures of the sun onto a big screen so they don't have to directly look at it.

But you seem to have some kind of fascination with studying the sun yourself for some odd reason. Maybe there is some kind of cheap trick that enables a regular amateur person to look at the sun (maybe through the lens of a welder's mask? I dunno.). But I am curious to know why you are so obsessed with this topic.

I’m not obsessed with this at all.

I see an OP who is worried about going blind.

I wish he could see an optometrist to rule out progressive blindness.

Krafty- you're not the center of the universe.

I was obviously addressing the OP when I asked HIM "why are you so obsessed with looking at the sun....".

I was obviously not addressing you Krafty.

But since you, Krafty, brought it up: it could be either thing. To me its sounds like he wants to...embark upon...a project of staring at the sun for some reason. Which is why I asked him why the heck he wants do to do crazy stuff that.

But- it could also be what you're assuming. That he already did look at the sun for one nanosecond too long, and now he is worried that he already damaged his eyes. None of us are mind readers. His wording is ambiguous. He could mean either thing.

So...original poster...you could please respond to us, and explain whats going on with you?

You can safely look at the sun ONLY DURING TOTALITY OF A SOLAR ECLIPSE.

At any other time, you risk burning the retina of the eye, resulting in damage that includes permanent blindness. Using sunglasses, telescope or other viewing implements does not keep the sun from damaging your eyes.

During the last solar eclipse, there were special glasses for viewing the partial stages. I don't know if those would protect your eyes or not.

In an aside, I think we all have to remember we have impaired communication skills. Something obvious to you (editorially) may not be obvious to others.

“Never look directly at the sun! The sun’s rays can damage the retina and lead to permanent vision loss.”
Rachel Bishop, M.D., chief of the National Eye Institute

Google (https://www.google.com) is your friend. try it some time.

“Looking directly at the sun is unsafe except during the brief total phase of a solar eclipse (“totality”), when the moon entirely blocks the sun’s bright face, which will happen only within the narrow path of totality,” NASA explains on its website.

Time Magazine.

http://time.com/4890397/solar-eclipse-d ... s-protect/

Google "can you gaze at the sun during the totality of the eclipse"

I dashed off that reply just before I went to work this AM.

I prolly was a little to harsh on Krafty. Sorry.

You're a good man, NP. I make the same mistake too.

Im very scared of going blind because i looked once for sever seconds at the sun.