The whole issue of the legality of solar filters in Australia is very confused, and pops up every time there is an eclipse here.
The basic problem seems to be that there are no Australian standards for the safety of solar filters. Now WE all know what's safe -- full aperture filters firmly attached to the front of the scope -- and what's not -- cheap welder's glass attached to the eyepiece. (BTW, if you are NOT sure what's safe, just ask!)
But this appears to be too difficult for the bureaucrats and lawyers to understand. Back during the 1976 eclipse, they banned Roger Tuthill from selling his solar filter material. Something similar happened to someone (Rudy in Wollongong?) importing solar filters for the 2002 eclipse. Want to bet it'll happen again for the 2012 eclipse?
This is not helped by the fact that the Australian Ophthalmological Association -- the pro eye doctors in Aus -- claim that "there is no safe way to observe the Sun". Geez, that's news to me. And it ignores the fact that the sun is 100% safe to observe _without filters_ during the few minutes of totality of a total eclipse.
I think we should all do our bit to stop companies from selling solar eyepiece filters. They are dangerous, and should be banned. But we should also do our bit to tell people that there are safe ways to observe the sun -- filters, projection, pin-holes, whatever. It's truly sad that the people of Zambia were given more accurate information about eye safety for the 2001 eclipse by their government than we receive from our local "experts".
Thanks, Mike.
