'It’s not worth the risk': Optometrist stresses caution when viewing solar eclipse

Weeks away from the first total solar eclipse in Canada in 45 years, optometrists are urging the public to take the proper precautions.

The celestial event will take place April 8. In southern Ontario, experts say it will begin shortly after 2 p.m. and last for about two and a half hours, with peak coverage around 3:20 p.m.

In some areas, like Hamilton and Niagara Falls, the moon will fully block out the sun for more than a minute.

“It will get really dark over just a few seconds and it will be kind of like night time,” Roan Haggar with the Waterloo Centre for Astrophysics told CTV News.

This will mark Canada’s first total solar eclipse since 1979, and the first to be seen in southern Ontario since 1925.

Brian Flatt, with Ottawa South Optometry in Kitchener, says spectators should only look directly at the eclipse if they’re wearing the proper eyewear capable of filtering high levels of sunlight.

“Your average sunglasses that you have at home, no matter how dark it is, is not safe for looking at the eclipse,” Flatt said.

Flatt says only solar eclipse glasses have the proper lenses to protect viewers from hurting their eyes. He says looking at the eclipse with the naked eye can cause irreparable long-term damage.

“It could leave you with blind spots, missing spots right in the center of your retina, which could really affect your vision to see details afterwards,” Flatt said. “Some of it may recover in the following weeks or months but some of it could be permanent.”

Eclipse glasses available to reserve for purchase at KW Telescope in Kitchener on March 19, 2024. (Tyler Kelaher/CTV Kitchener)

KW Telescope, a Kitchener astronomy shop, says it sold 1,000 solar eclipse glasses in just three days. Sales manager, Shannon Cameron, says the store has more glasses on the way, but customers should call ahead to reserve a pair before they sell out.

“We tried to scramble to get as many as we possible could,” Cameron told CTV News. “We’re able to get more, and now back to just taking reservations. I think we’ll have sold close to about 5,000 pairs [by April 8]."

If you don’t have solar eclipse glasses, a safe alternative is to build a pinhole projector to view the eclipse indirectly.

If you don’t have the proper eyewear or a safe alternative, optometrists suggest you avoid looking up at the eclipse all together.

“Don’t do it. It’s not worth the risk,” Flatt said. “There’s no way to know in the moment how much damage you’re doing.”