RANZCO is warning people to never look directly at the sun ahead of a rare total eclipse that will pass over Western Australia this month.
At 11.29am Australian Western Standard Time on Thursday 20 April 2023 the sun will disappear over Ningaloo, WA, including the town of Exmouth, and will reappear a minute later.
This total eclipse is exceedingly rare; any single location on Earth is only likely to see a total eclipse once every few hundred years.
The rest of Australia will experience a partial eclipse, and a chance to prepare for a total eclipse over Sydney in 2028.
Dr Hessom Razavi, from RANZCO and the Lions Eye Institute, is warning people to never look directly at the sun.
“It can cause serious and permanent eye damage, and that’s true even during a solar eclipse. Children’s eyes are especially vulnerable to damage,” he said.
RANZCO has prepared a Position Statement on solar retinopathy for the general public.
Astronomical Society of Australia (ASA) president, Professor John Lattanzio, said Australia is the lucky country with five total eclipses visible in various parts of the country over the next 15 years.
According to the ASA, the best ways to observe an eclipse are through special-purpose ‘eclipse glasses’ or hand-held solar viewers with solar filters that meet the international standard, or using pinhole projection through a large card with a two-millimetre hole in the centre to project an image of the sun onto another surface held about a metre away.
RANZCO advises that using solar eclipse glasses still carries some risks, so people must make sure their glasses meet the ISO 12312 2 standard and that they read and follow all safety advice and precautions, ensuring that there are no scratches or other damage.
According to RANZCO, the only way to guarantee the prevention of solar retinopathy is to avoid all forms of direct sun viewing.
The ASA has created a comprehensive website including sections on how to safely view the eclipse, the path of the eclipse and the next five eclipses.
After the April 2023 eclipse the next four will be:
- 22 July 2028 crossing the Kimberley in WA, Northern Territory, southwest Queensland, NSW and passing centrally through Sydney
- 25 November 2030 across South Australia, northwest NSW, southern Queensland ending at sunset in southeast Queensland
- 13 July 2037 through southern WA, southern NT, western Queensland through to pass over Brisbane and the Gold Coast
- 26 December 2038 through central WA, SA, and along the NSW/Victoria border.
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