Eclipse glasses protect the eyes from overexposure to the sun's ultraviolet and infrared radiation, as a person's instinct to look away from the sun is diminished when it's partly blocked.

Just as directly observing a solar eclipse without protective glasses can cause permanent eye damage, photographing an eclipse requires a specialized filter to prevent damaging your camera.

Because the half of Earth that faces the sun is larger than the area of the shadow cast by the moon during a solar eclipse, observers may experience a total, annular, or partial eclipse.

Solar eclipses are a cosmic coincidence because the moon is 400 times smaller than the sun but 400 times closer to Earth, allowing it to completely block sunlight.

Global eclipse tourism is a multibillion-dollar industry, with the 2024 total solar eclipse across North America estimated to have generated $6B in economic activity across regions along its path.

Visualize the path of every solar eclipse from 1900 to 2099 and see what each looks like when observed from different locations on Earth.

View photographs of solar eclipses on Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn caused by the moons of these planets blocking sunlight.

Over thousands of years, the frequency of solar eclipses is greatest around the Arctic and Antarctic Circles and lowest near the equator.

In 2025, the European Space Agency created the first artificial solar eclipse in space when one spacecraft cast a shadow onto another spacecraft to enable observations of the sun's outermost atmosphere.

The UV index measures the sun's ultraviolet radiation risk on a scale of 1 to 11+

The tool takes into account geographical location, time, elevation, and cloud coverage to help individuals plan their daily activities around the sun's peak UV exposure times, which occur from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm. A value at or above 6 requires sunscreen (SPF 15+), shelter, or UPF clothing

Learn about the sun's corona, which is nonlethal despite a temperature of millions of degrees

The outermost layer of the sun's atmosphere is best seen during a solar eclipse, when the moon blocks the much brighter (and significantly cooler) solar surface. Despite the high-energy particles in the corona moving fast enough to escape the sun's gravity and gradually become solar wind, their density is too low to contribute meaningfully to the region's overall radiation.

Blood moons only occur during total lunar eclipses, when the Earth blocks the sun, but its atmosphere lets redder parts of sunlight through to reflect off the lunar surface.

While the sun, moon, and stars rise and set from east to west due to Earth's rotation, the moon's eastward revolution around the Earth causes its shadow to move from west to east during a solar eclipse.

Mineral and chemical sunscreens protect differently, but both guard against UV damage.

NASA's Near-Earth Object Surveyor can detect asteroids coming from the sun

Telescopes directed at the sun or lacking heat shields may become damaged, limiting our ability to monitor potentially dangerous objects coming from that direction. The NEO Surveyor is built to overcome this problem and spot asteroids that reflect as little as 5% of incoming light.

While solar eclipses were considered ominous throughout history, multiple cultures explained the celestial event as the result of mythical creatures nearly consuming the sun.

Demystifying sunscreen

Sunscreen is helpful all year round. Experts argue a minimum level of protection is SPF 30. There are two kinds of sunscreen: mineral (a physical barrier) and chemical (absorbs UV light). No new sunscreen ingredients have been approved in the US in decades, so foreign products are common.

Understanding why charged particles from the sun protect Earth from more dangerous particles

The solar wind engulfs the solar system in a protective bubble called the heliosphere, which was first theorized in the late 1950s based on studies of cosmic rays—high-energy particles traveling through space at near light speed. The heliosphere shields the solar system from much of this ionizing radiation originating elsewhere in the Milky Way.

The majority of exoplanets—planets outside the solar system—have been discovered through mini-eclipses created when they pass in front of their host star and block some of its light from reaching Earth.

What did people do before eyeglasses were invented?

An estimated two-thirds of the world's adults use a form of prescription glasses or contacts, proof spectacles were a godsend when they were invented in 1286 CE. But what did people do before that? Different tools were used for distinct vision problems, but some would use magnifying lenses, clear emeralds, and more. Watch this video for a historical explanation.

A composite of telescope images of the sun, which each reveal unique solar features

While traditional cameras can reveal sunspots—cooler regions on the sun's surface—in visible light, x-ray detectors can highlight explosions of high-energy plasma and magnetic fields known as coronal mass ejections. Hydrogen-alpha filters can reveal clouds and filaments of material suspended in magnetic fields above the sun's surface.

Although the moon passes between the sun and Earth monthly, its orbit is tilted by five degrees, preventing the planet from experiencing a solar eclipse each month.

Just before and just after a total solar eclipse, sunlight can pass through uneven terrain on the lunar surface, producing disconnected bits of light around the moon called Baily's beads.

Variations in the energy of light force the use of multiple telescopes

Just as Earth's atmosphere allows the sun's visible light to pass through while blocking other harmful radiation, telescope mirrors and other optics can only reflect, absorb, or transmit certain types of light. Detectors also utilize semiconducting materials that react to specific energies of light, thereby preventing a one-telescope-fits-all solution.

Scientists validated Albert Einstein's theory of gravity by measuring the apparent positions of stars via their starlight as it traveled near the sun on its way to Earth during a total solar eclipse.

Scientists create contact lenses that give you infrared vision

Scientists have created lenses that use nanoparticles to convert infrared light into visible light, allowing human eyes to observe previously invisible parts of the electromagnetic spectrum. This technology may help colorblind individuals by converting colors they cannot see into wavelengths they can.

The impacts of the solar maximum on Earth, from telecommunications to auroras

During the peak of the sun's 11-year cycle, plasma emissions stronger than the average stream of particles from the sun can compress and distort the Earth's magnetic field, allowing auroras to be seen farther from the poles. Distortions in the ionized layer of Earth's atmosphere can also alter the path of communication transmissions through the air. (Some readers may experience a paywall.)

According to the Greek historian Herodotus, the first person to successfully predict a solar eclipse was the Greek philosopher Thales of Miletus in 585 BCE, with the resulting celestial event ending a half-decade-long war.

Why Earth would become a more deadly environment without the ozone layer

The ozone layer blocks almost all of the sun's harmful, including dangerous UVC rays that can damage cells by breaking chemical bonds. Without it, rates of skin cancer, crop failures, oceanic die-offs, and widespread ecosystem collapse would increase significantly, making Earth largely uninhabitable.

View historical records of solar observations and discoveries, from telescopes in the early 1600s revealing sunspots to NASA's Parker Solar Probe photographing the sun from within its outer corona in 2025.

Protecting astronauts against space radiation

Outside the protective atmosphere of Earth, astronauts are constantly bombarded by radiation, which, among other dangers, increases the risk cancer. While those of us on Earth can mitigate the effects of similar radiation by limiting exposure,...

In 1676, Danish astronomer Ole Rømer determined that light did not travel instantaneously by observing a delay in the appearance of eclipses on Jupiter when it was farther from Earth.

By identifying patterns in the periodic movements of the sun, moon, and Earth, ancient civilizations realized that identical eclipses repeat about once every 6,585 days, known as the saros cycle.