Eclipse 2024: Can you view the eclipse without special glasses?

HOUSTON - With the 2024 Eclipse upcoming, a lot of people are anticipating looking up to the sky to see the solar eclipse on April 8. 

However, just looking up at the sun, could cause damage to your eyes. 

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So, in short, experts say you should not directly look into the sun without some type of eye protection, such as protective glasses.  According to NASA, when watching a solar eclipse directly with your eyes, you must look through safe solar viewing glasses ("eclipse glasses") or a safe handheld solar viewer at all times. 

Eclipse glasses are not regular sunglasses; regular sunglasses, no matter how dark, are not safe for viewing the Sun. Safe solar viewers are thousands of times darker and ought to comply with the ISO 12312-2 international standard. 

A crowd uses handheld solar viewers and solar eclipse glasses to safely view a solar eclipse.Credit: National Park Service

Always be sure to inspect your eclipse glasses or handheld viewer before use; if torn, scratched, or otherwise damaged, discard the device. You should always supervise children using solar viewers.

Also, do not look at the Sun through a camera lens, telescope, binoculars, or any other optical device while wearing eclipse glasses or using a handheld solar viewer — the concentrated solar rays will burn through the filter and cause serious eye injury, NASA says.