It's finally here, the day we all get to stare at the sun!

Ahh, maybe not.

By now you have probably heard ad nauseam the advice from your local meteorologists to avoid looking at the sun during the solar eclipse. But do you actually now why it's a bad thing or how severe you could damage your eyes?

Well for starters, staring at the sun for a long time causes a photochemical reaction in your retinas and that can kill the cells. The crazy part is you can't feel it because you don't have pain receptors back there. And once it happens, it's irreversible!

Now a second or two might not hurt you. It's like staring at the sun on a normal day. But if you look up at it a few times, it'll add up and permanent damage can happen fairly quickly, especially for young people.

The only time you can look at an eclipse is during its "totality", and we're not getting that here in Acadiana.

For those driving today, please be careful. A lot of folks may try to look at it and as a result, will stop paying attention to the road. Others may pull over on the side of the road to check it out.

So just be cautious while driving today and put your headlights on if it gets dark.

If you don't have those approved glasses, just watch the eclipse online at NASA's site. Go to nasa.gov/eclipselive.

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