How to Watch a Solar Eclipse Safely: Eclipse Glasses, Pinhole Projectors and the Totality Rule
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How we wrote this: A summary of NASA's Eclipse Viewing Safety and Types of Solar Eclipses pages (linked below), checked October 29, 2026. NASA does not approve particular brands of solar viewers, and neither do we; none are named here.
Two solar eclipses are coming in 2027: an annular "ring of fire" on February 6 and a long total eclipse on August 2. Whether you travel to see one or catch a partial eclipse from home, the safety rules are the same, and NASA's are short and strict.
The basic rule
Except during the brief total phase of a total solar eclipse, when the Moon completely blocks the Sun's bright face, it is not safe to look directly at the Sun without specialized eye protection for solar viewing. That covers every partial eclipse, every annular eclipse and the partial phases before and after totality.
Looking at any part of the bright Sun through a camera lens, binoculars or a telescope without a special-purpose solar filter secured over the front will, NASA says, instantly cause severe eye injury.
Eclipse glasses and handheld viewers
- Sunglasses don't count. NASA: regular sunglasses, no matter how dark, are not safe for viewing the Sun. Safe solar viewers are thousands of times darker.
- Look for ISO 12312-2. NASA says safe viewers ought to comply with this international standard. It doesn't approve any particular brand.
- Inspect before every use. If the glasses or viewer are torn, scratched or otherwise damaged, throw them away.
- Supervise children using solar viewers.
- Wear them the whole time during a partial or annular eclipse.
Never combine glasses with optics
NASA's warning here is blunt: do not look through a camera, telescope, binoculars or any other optical device while wearing eclipse glasses or using a handheld viewer. The concentrated sunlight will burn through the glasses' filter and cause serious eye injury.
Optics need their own solar filters, attached to the front (the Sun-facing end), not the eyepiece. With a proper front-mounted solar filter, you don't need eclipse glasses as well, since the filter does the same job. NASA suggests getting expert advice from an astronomer before using a solar filter on a camera, telescope or binoculars. (For everyday stargazing gear, see stargazing with binoculars and choosing a beginner telescope, and never point either at the Sun without a proper solar filter.)
No glasses? Project it
Indirect viewing doesn't involve looking at the Sun at all:
- Index-card pinhole. Punch a small hole in a card. With the Sun behind you, let sunlight pass through the hole onto a nearby surface and look at the projected image. Don't look at the Sun through the pinhole.
- Box projector. NASA's version uses a cardboard box, white paper, tape, scissors and aluminum foil. Tape foil over a hole in one side, punch a pinhole in the foil, tape a sheet of white paper inside the box, and look in through a second hole. With the Sun behind you, a crescent Sun appears on the paper during the partial phases.
- Kitchen colander. Its holes project dozens of little crescents onto the ground during a partial eclipse.
The totality exception
During a total eclipse, and only then:
- Use eclipse glasses or a solar viewer during the partial phases before totality.
- You can look without protection only while the Moon completely covers the Sun's bright face. NASA's test: it's safe when you can no longer see any part of the Sun through your eclipse glasses.
- As soon as any bright Sun reappears, put the glasses back on.
An annular eclipse never reaches this point. NASA explains that the Moon is too far from Earth to cover the Sun, leaving a bright ring, so protection stays on the entire time.
Protect your skin, too
Even during an eclipse the Sun is very bright, and watching the whole event can mean hours in direct sunlight. NASA recommends sunscreen, a hat and protective clothing. Our sun protection checklist covers the basics.
Quick checklist
- Eclipse glasses or a handheld viewer labeled ISO 12312-2, inspected and undamaged
- Solar filters on the front of any binoculars, telescope or camera, or no optics at all
- A pinhole projector as a backup
- Glasses on except during totality itself
- Sunscreen, a hat and protective clothing