Warning against looking directly at eclipsed sun expert

The safest outcome of the eclipse of the sun by the moon on Wednesday week would be for the day to be cloudy, an eye specialist has said.

Mr Ian Flitcroft, a registrar at the Royal Victoria Eye and Ear Hospital in Dublin, warns people not to look directly at the eclipse.

"Hundreds of times more tenuation is required than in ordinary sunglasses," he says. "Sunglasses should appear totally black. Looking at a 100 watt bulb, you should only see a dull glow."

People who look directly at the sun during the eclipse risk causing serious damage to their eyes. "They could end up destroying the part of their eyes used for reading and detailed vision. If that goes they're in deep trouble."

The Association of Optometrists in Ireland has advised people to use a pinhole viewer to look at the eclipse.

The manager of Specsavers Opticians on Grafton Street, Dublin, Mr Seamus Breslin, says he has had about 50 such viewers available. "Our advice to people is to turn your back from the eclipse and watch the eclipse through a viewer." Held over a shoulder, the light from the hole could be projected onto a plain white card and this would provide a view of the eclipse. "That's as perfectly safe as you can be," he says.

Meanwhile, a British firm at the centre of a controversy last week over "eclipse sunglasses" says it has not exported any of its 20 million glasses to Ireland.

"Whether other retailers have sold any [to Irish firms] is another question," Mr Lee Matts, the financial director of Swan Packaging, said.

The company expressed full confidence in its product after the US multi-national DuPont, which said it was the manufacturer of one of the materials used by Swan, said it had no evidence its product Mylar would make it safe to view the eclipse directly.

Swan Packaging had never purchased any materials from DuPont, the company said in a statement.

Schull planetarium in west Cork will hold a series of events to mark the eclipse of the sun. The programme includes lectures, displays and an eclipse fact sheet with advice on observing the eclipse safely.

The planetarium's senior lecturer, Mr Mark Sweetnam, said that while the complete coverage of the sun by the moon will not be visible from Ireland, the south will see 95 to 98 per cent coverage.

Further programme details are available on 028-28552.