eli5: How much smaller/weaker would the sun have to be to be able to look at it from Earth without eye damage?

Question

eli5: How much smaller/weaker would the sun have to be to be able to look at it from Earth without eye damage?

In: 0

Answer 1

you can look at the sun at sunset or in winter in northern latituded, so you basically need thicker atmosphere.

Then again, the earth would be in perpetual winter, so your eyeballs might freeze.

Answer 2

It depends on the circumstances and what kind of eye damage you want to prevent.

Long term UV radiation damage to your lens?, Retina damage because you are looking through a telescope? etc…

Even with the current brightness of the sun, some kinds of eye damage takes years to develop and making the sun weaker just makes this time longer so having a looking at the sun “without eye damage” might not be possible.