| More accurately, any partial eclipse gives you 0% of the experience of totality. During totality, you see the Sun's corona with your own eyes. In any partial phase, you are seeing the Sun's photosphere - the same bright surface of the Sun you see on every clear day. So you need eye protection. When the Moon completely blocks the photosphere in totality, you get to see the much fainter solar corona. The corona is only about as bright as a full Moon. You don't need and should not use solar glasses during totality. Don't take my word for it, if you get them go out at night and look at the Moon through them (doesn't have to be full). Your kids are fairly young? You want to keep them safe during the partial phases, and also make sure they get to view totality unfiltered. There was a lengthy discussion on Reddit the other day, nominally about photography but also about viewing with your own eyes: https://old.reddit.com/r/photography/comments/1bk7f0l/total_... It bums me out that there is so much misinformation going around about eclipse viewing safety, specifically the notion that you should wear eclipse glasses during totality. In that same Reddit thread, someone cites a misinformed New York Times article. I'll link it here because it was downvoted and hidden and is worth a quick read (along with our replies) to see how badly mistaken a major news publication can be: https://old.reddit.com/r/photography/comments/1bk7f0l/total_... |