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How to make your own solar eclipse viewer

Even though Georgia is not in the path of totality, you don't want to miss the partial eclipse on April 8. You can start preparing now for a safe viewing.

ATLANTA — The Great American Eclipse is almost here!

It will take place on Monday, April 8.  Residents from Texas northeastward into Maine and all of the states in between are getting ready for a view of totality.  While Georgia is just outside of the total eclipse, it will still be something to see, and you don't have to miss out.

It is worth watching, though, but you have to be careful.  For people who don't have protective glasses, you can make your own shadow boxes or solar viewers. 

"Shadow boxes work very well. Just a pinhole camera.  Just put a pinhole in something and let the sun project it on the ground or a piece of white paper," Mark Lancaster, an astronomer at Fernbank Science Center in DeKalb County.

Here's a look at the steps.

Do-it-yourself solar viewer

Credit: 11Alive

These are the materials you will need:

  • Shoe box
  • Tape
  • Foil
  • Paper
  • Pencil
  • Scissors

Step 1

Credit: 11Alive

Start by cutting two holes on one side of the box.  

Step 2


Credit: 11Alive

Then, put some tape on the foil and place the foil over one of the holes in the box. 

Step 3

Credit: 11Alive
Poke a hole in the aluminum foil with a sharp pencil

Use the tip of a pencil to put a small hole in the foil.  

Step 4

Then, put some tape on your piece of white paper and stick it inside the box opposite of the holes and put the lid on top.  

And you are done! 

When the eclipse is happening, put your back to the sun and look through the open hole. 

The light will pass through the hole in the foil to the paper in the back of the box.  You will see the image of the eclipse as it happens. 

Credit: 11Alive

Watch the video below to see the step-by-step guide.

   

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