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Whenever I happened to be on deck at sunrise or set I used to note the
time.. As the sun touched the horizon it looked like a squshed tomato
which always made me smile.  Later I'd figure a horizon sight

Never took the time when the upper edge appeared or disappeared, so
never saw the green flash. Now that I'm in the tropics (18N) I may
yet.

Also never felt the inclination to look away,, though I often looked
through the tube made by my partially closed fist. I'm glad to hear I
probably wasn't being foolish.

-Hewitt

On 6/20/09, Ken Muldrew  wrote:
>
> From:
> 
>
>
> > Just as a general un-scientific survey, how many of you have caught a
> > quick glimpse of the Sun through a sextant telescope? How long did it
> > take for the spots to go away.
>
>
> I've seen a couple of flashes through the 5x scope on my sextant. The spots
> probably lasted a minute or two, I don't remember well enough to guess
> better than that. There was no later pain due to these brief glimpses. My
> sextant has a sunshade in front of the telescope and even though it's
> painted black, I can't count the number of times I've seen the sun reflected
> of this shade and thought (just for a second) that I had gotten the full sun
> through the scope.
>
>
> I have had snow blindness a few times and a couple of welder's flashes (only
> one of which resulted in pain). I don't think you will do any harm to your
> eyes without knowing about it. It really does hurt like the devil (it feels
> like you have sand under your eyelids). So the fellow who was worried about
> his 90 year old shades is quite safe if he has been using them for some time
> without effect. It's really just the first time you use your shades that you
> take some risk.
>
>
> Like Frank, I have stared at the setting sun many times. The rule of thumb
> is that if it's bright enough to make you want to look away, then look away.
>
>
> Ken Muldrew.
>  >
>

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