With only days left before the celestial event of the year, The Great American Eclipse of 2017, many local stores – like 7-11, Walmart and Best Buy – are sold out of solar eclipse safety glasses. But fear not, there is more than one way to view the eclipse. If you were not able to snag a pair of the eclipse shades, or simply don’t want to risk the chance of burning your retina’s, the pinhole projector is the way to go.
A pinhole projector can be made as simply as poking a hole in a piece of paper and letting the sunlight shine through the hole, projecting the light onto the ground, or you can follow the simple instructions below and make your very own pinhole projector box.
What you’ll need
- Cardboard box (a cereal box works fine)
- Aluminum foil
- Push pin
- White paper
- Pen
- Tape
How to make your projector
- Place the cardboard box on the white sheet of paper and trace the bottom with pen
- Cut out the rectangle
- Tape the rectangle to the inside bottom of the box
- Close the box and cut out two holes on either side of the top
- Take square of foil and tape over one of the holes
- Poke a single hole in the foil
- Align the hole with the sun, and view the eclipse in safety
This story originally appeared on our sister publication, Port City Daily.
