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Re: Telescope danger to sight. Was: Venus transit ...
From: Jared Sherman
Date: 2004 May 13, 10:44 -0400
From: Jared Sherman
Date: 2004 May 13, 10:44 -0400
Honestly, George, I don't know how you draw these assumptions about what I might prefer. Asking me directly would doubtlessly be more reliable than making assumptions. It is not that I would rather not know, but that for my concerns it is enough to know that there is a threshold of damage. That some behavior of this type will cause long-lasting or permanent damage. And, since there is no practical use for my gazing into the sun, the simple and practical way to live with the problem is by not looking into the sun, with or without telescopic lenses. That is not antiscientific, it is KISS. Now, do me the favor of not making the assumption that I fear the sun, or that I'm going to live underground to ensure I don't accidentally look into the sun. Don't extend what I said to things I haven't and don't say. Try looking at http://mintaka.sdsu.edu/GF/vision/Galileo.html#Lowe for an article that cites medical research showing how complex, variable, and dangerous the practice of looking into the sun can be. Once you've measured everything else....you still don't know if you will be safe, because you don't--and can't--measure the individual eyes in question, until you've removed them and autopsied them, as some of the doctors cited in the study have. You'll find that page also gives some practical solutions for the type of filtering you'll need for safe observation of the sun, regardless of your eye chemistry.