The pinhole camera is the safest and simplest way to observe the eclipses of the Sun.

You can easily make a pinhole camera using two sheets of hard cardboard through the following steps:

•  Punch a tiny hole in one of the sheets.

•  Hold the two sheets in your hands.

•  With your back to the Sun, let the rays of the Sun pass through the pinhole to be projected on to the second sheet which we will call the screen.

•  You will get a projected image of the Sun on the screen. The size and brightness of this image will depend on the distance between the pinhole and the screen.

•  If you move the screen away from the pinhole, you'll find that the projected image of the Sun will increase in size but decrease in brightness.

•  Adjust the distance between the pinhole and the screen so that you get a bright solar image of a fairly big size.

A distance of 1m between the two sheets will yield a solar image of about 1cm in diameter.

Do not look at the Sun through the pinhole!

There is another way to make a pinhole camera:

•  Find or make a card box.

•  You may also use a card tube.

•  The length of the box should be about 1m.

•  Cut a hole in the centre of one end of the box.

Cover the hole with foil.

•  With a pin, pierce a pinhole in the foil.

•  Cut a viewing hole in one side of the box.

•  With your back to the Sun, point the box to the Sun so that the rays of the Sun pass through the pinhole. A solar image will be projected on the opposite side of the box that can be viewed through the viewing hole.

•  If you have trouble aiming the box to the Sun observe the size of the shadow of the box as you slew the box to the Sun. When the size of this shadow is minimum, the box will be aligned to the Sun, and the solar image can be readily viewed through the viewing hole.

Do not look at the Sun through the pinhole!