Why can’t I look at the sun?

Don’t look at the sun. It can hurt your eyes because it is too bright. Your eyes need shade. Look at the ground instead.

You can’t look at the sun because its light is much too strong for your eyes. It can hurt the soft seeing parts inside them. It is like looking at a very, very bright lamp up close, but much stronger. Sunglasses help outside, but they do not make it safe to stare at the sun.

You can’t look at the sun because its light is much too strong for your eyes. The clear lens in your eye bends light and focuses it onto the retina, the thin seeing layer at the back of your eye. Sunlight can hurt or burn those tiny seeing cells, like a magnifying glass focusing light on paper. The scary part is your retina has no pain nerves, so it may not hurt while damage is happening. Fun fact: the sun is about 400,000 times brighter than the full moon!