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Re: Telescope danger to sight. Was: Venus transit ...
From: Jared Sherman
Date: 2004 May 13, 18:34 -0400
From: Jared Sherman
Date: 2004 May 13, 18:34 -0400
How so, George? If there are no reports of damage, perhaps that only means sextant users as a group are educated enough to be aware that gazing into the sun has been advised against, and so they have avoided doing so. Or, there may be folks with eye damage who simply realized their mistake and never spoke of it, since it would be embarassing to say "Well, I heard I wasn't supposed to look into the sun but I did anyway, and now I've got this blind spot." Not the kind of thing many folks would readibly boast of. A lack of reports of damage simply means no damage has been reported. The scientific method can infer very little from that, beyond an absence of information.