Build an Eclipse Viewer
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) — The upcoming eclipse provides a perfect opportunity to use a little creativity, tape, and spaghetti to make a solar viewer that is safe for the whole family!
If you don’t have eclipse glasses or a handheld solar viewer, you can use an indirect viewing method, which does not involve looking directly at the Sun.
The easiest indirect method is called the “pinhole method”. Simply punch a small hole in a piece of paper or cardboard, hold it up, and let the light through the pinhole project onto another piece of paper or any flat surface.
Another indirect method requires building an eclipse projector.
To build one, all you need are a few household supplies: a box (just about any size will work), a small piece of aluminum foil, a white sheet of paper, tape, a strand of dried spaghetti, and a cutting tool (aka scissors, box cutter or X-Acto knife).
Step 1: Cut a small hole (about 1 inch across) in one end of the box, near an edge.
Step 2: Tape a piece of aluminum foil over the hole.
Step 3: Using the piece of spaghetti, punch a hole in the center of the foil.
Step 4: Tape a small piece of white paper to the inside of the box, at the opposite end from the foil-covered hole. The paper should be positioned so that light entering the box through the pinhole will hit it. This is where you’ll look for the sun.
Step 5: Cut a 1-inch-diameter hole in the box near the image screen (the white piece of paper), but on a different side of the box. This is your viewing hole; it must be positioned such that you can look through it at an angle and see the image screen.
When the time comes for the eclipse, hold the box so that it lines up with its own shadow, demonstrating that it is aligned with light from the sun. Stand so that when you look through the viewing hole, you can see a tiny bead of light on the image screen; that’s the sun. During the eclipse, you’ll see the shadow of the moon pass in front of the sun.
You’ll still catch all of the eclipse action while keeping your peepers safe!
