Total solar Eclipse 12-08-2026

I’ve cardboard box here to make a pinhole projector. That should do the job. :ok_hand:

They may be OK as the sun is dimmed by being near the horizon, with added dimming from anticyclonic haze. Also if you hold them you can tilt them so the light is passing through a greater thickness, but this has to be tested carefully to avoid injury to your sight.

Another trick is to use two pairs of polarised sunglasses, one at right angles to the other for maximum dimming.

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Courtesy BBC (C) 2026
I’m making mine from an empty breakfast cereal box.

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Built and tested. Works well enough using this empty Nespresso shipping box.

Just a white dot at the minute but hopefully all will be well later this evening.

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Sod’s Law: I kept my pair of eclipse glasses for donkey’s years (from the partial eclipse in March 2015), was always finding them in the cupboard when not wanted, have searched everywhere for them, but to no avail - hence my bespoke Oatibix viewer [“Other breakfast cereal boxes are available”]. Still, someone said, those cheap glasses have a use-by-date.

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Ian, looking at your photo, I think your pinhole might be too big. Did you use a needle or pin or something larger? If you make it too large, the image becomes blurry, fuzzy, and out of focus.

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Hey folks, here’s the live broadcast link:

We’ll start the actual telescope stream around 18:30.

We’ll also be taking still pictures during the event from the same setup, so expect a few very short 1–2 second interruptions from time to time.

Enjoy the show, and fingers crossed for clear skies! :crossed_fingers:

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I just used a meat thermometer to make the hole. I can cover over it and use a jumper wire from an electronics kit instead?

Pin hole… the clue is in the name.

It looked grand enough when I tested it earlier. With that said I now have doubts, so am going to redo it! :rofl:

EDIT: Sorted. Still looks the same though!

My effort for today - pinhole projector made with cardboard tube, a pin hole in silver foil, projected onto a piece of white paper viewable through an aperture. I mounted it on an old tripod:

This is the image, with the sun about 12mm across:

Looking forward to seeing what I get in the next couple of hours.

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After a roasting hot day, it’s just clouded over here.

Welding mask at the ready anyhoo!

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Be careful - check its rating. Typical household or hobbyist welding masks are usually fitted with Shade 10 or lower lenses, which are completely unsafe for looking directly at the sun. The absolute minimum requirement is Shade 12. Shade 13 or Shade 14 provide the safest and most comfortable view.

5-13 variable. :blush:

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i just tilted mine until it was a comfortable view. Some cloud around but the sun in a clear lane.
If your filter isn’t dense enough look at the reflection on a window, that reflection is at about 10% of the direct view.

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Not bad… cloud was variable but actually helped at maximum.

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Perfect sky here. Didn’t even have to go more than 5 steps out the front door!

Pinhole doodah worked a treat. Alex’s stream is doing a whopper job as well. Pork chops and apple sauce and a sack of chips for tea in front of the Super Cup on’t telly.

Happy days all around. :blush:

View through my DIY setup a few minutes before Eclipsius Maximus:

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200mm Zoom MFT Lumix G9 Solar filter in Hannover DL.

73 Chris

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Near Buelach, Switzerland JN47gm - time of maximum coverage (90%)

Canon EOS60D with a Tamron zoom@400mm and a homemade filter with astro solar foil.

73 Jens HB9EKO

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