LONDON (Reuters) - At next month's total eclipse of the sun, the advice of the British government is that you should close your eyes, savor the ambience -- and then watch it on television.
Britain's chief medical officer said Tuesday it was only safe to watch the August 11 eclipse indirectly and that watching through dark glass spectacles or looking straight at the eclipse could cause permanent blindness.
``It isn't safe to use any sort of screen for your eyes to look at the sun during the eclipse,'' said Liam Donaldson. ''Experience the atmosphere outside and then pop indoors and watch it on television.''
He said that those anxious to watch the eclipse live could use a basic pinhole camera, by turning their back to the sun, holding up a piece of cardboard with a small hole, and watching the image projected onto a second piece of card.
Thousands of Britons are expected to flock down to the southwestern county of Cornwall for the eclipse -- the last this millennium -- where the effects in the UK are expected to be most dramatic.
``Our advice is that to look at the sun directly at any point in its cycle of eclipse could potentially cause serious damage to your eyesight or even blindness,'' Donaldson said. ''The only safe way is to watch indirectly.''
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