Eclipse glasses users warned they could lose eyesight

Saturday 18th July, 06:51 AM JST

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Pukey2 at 11:56 AM JST - 18th July

I remember very well the solar eclipse of 1999 in UK. I was in London, and though we only had a partial one, we had a better view than the people in Cornwall where they were waiting for the total eclipse...it was completely cloudy!

Just wondering, but is anyone in Japan outside of Okinawa/Kagoshima going to notice anything?
Foxie at 01:19 PM JST - 18th July

As it stands now according to JMA there will be 50% chance of rainfall that day....too bad, no one will be able to see it.
eclipseviewer at 03:24 PM JST - 18th July

Praying for good weather for you in Japan. Just to let you all know, we have 80,000 fully EC certified viewers (glasses type) ready to go from Oxford and we can personally guarantee them to be there by tomorrow evening (Japan time). If any of you find us a buyer in this last stage you can have 10% of invoiced sales. Please get in touch asap if you have any leads for us.

see www.eclipseviewer.net

also contains interesting scientific info. The nasa website is also great to learn more about ecllipse science and the resulting bird behaviour ;0)
herefornow at 03:26 PM JST - 18th July

Nice irony. It was the Science agency which authorized the production and distribution of the glasses -- and they are defective. Can't any branch of J-government get something right? Another colossul waste of taxpayer money.
Disillusioned at 04:35 PM JST - 18th July

The JST is asking people who detect a problem with the glasses’ light shield setup not to use them.

This is an amusing statement without any definition of what the fault may be. Or, are you just supposed to use them and if you go blind you know you have a defective set? If you really want to watch it head to your local trades supplier and buy a glass shield for a welding helmet. There is also the pin hole in a piece of paper trick, but that doesn't work either cos you are still exposed to the direct rays of the sun.
BurakuminDes at 07:45 PM JST - 18th July

Praying for good weather for you in Japan. Just to let you all know, we have 80,000 fully EC certified viewers (glasses type) ready to go from Oxford and we can personally guarantee them to be there by tomorrow evening (Japan time). If any of you find us a buyer in this last stage you can have 10% of invoiced sales. Please get in touch asap if you have any leads for us.

see www.eclipseviewer.net

Shameless plug there! Respect, though...and good luck shifting those units!
UnagiDon at 09:55 PM JST - 18th July

There is also the pin hole in a piece of paper trick, but that doesn't work either cos you are still exposed to the direct rays of the sun.

Yes, you are "exposed" to the sun just as if you would be outside on any other day. Unless you think you're actually supposed to look through the pinhole? Uh-oh...
Sarge at 10:14 PM JST - 18th July

No worries, it'll probably be overcast as usual.
Disillusioned at 11:36 PM JST - 18th July

Unless you think you're actually supposed to look through the pinhole?

Yep, that's the plan. I got to see an eclipse in Australia 30 odd years ago. We were traveling on a tree lined highway in a bus and we were able to see the eclipse between the trees as they were streaming past. Nothing to do with faulty retro specs though.
UnagiDon at 12:16 AM JST - 19th July

No, as someone said earlier you shine the light from the pinhole onto another sheet of paper and look at that projected image on the second sheet.

Another fun way is to aim a pair of binocular at the sun by hand (without looking though them, obviously) and shine the image of the sun on a sheet of paper to get a magnified view. Works great unless you leave them aimed at the sun too long when they can overheat and rack the lenses.
thorgrimfile at 04:32 AM JST - 19th July

Not nearly as cool as a Lunar Eclipse (as far as ease of watching goes), when the Earth gets in the way of the Sun's light to the moon - a hell of a lot less dangerous to look at, plus the Moon turns this cool-evil reddish color. Saw it about 10 years ago in Florida. Much easier to stare at, on a nice beach at night, than putting a tinfoil box on your head, etc..
Mark_McCracken at 09:39 AM JST - 22nd July

It should be starting in a few minutes. Lots of clouds in Japan, it seems.
Apsara at 10:02 AM JST - 22nd July

In Tokyo at least it's still more than an hour away- it's supposed to be at 11.13. Unless the weather changes drastically in the next hour we won't see anything unfortunately- heavy overcast and rain here.
Mark_McCracken at 12:07 PM JST - 22nd July

In Osaka it turned out pretty well. Overcast, but between the heavy clouds you could see it well.
griff at 12:14 PM JST - 22nd July

well i suppose it was a little gloomier earlier. that's what i was expecting, though