
S1E76 - The Science of Putting Sunglasses on The Sun
Published: August 9, 2026
Duration: 1:00:02
Why does the cartoon Sun always wear sunglasses? And how big would a real pair need to be?
Hannah Fry and Michael Stevens investigate space mirrors, Reflect Orbital and solar eclipses to find out.
Starting with a pencil held at arm’s length, they use the Sun’s angular diameter to calculate how big a pair of solar sunglasses would need to be for one eye, two eyes, everyone in London and eventually the entire planet.
Their hypothetical answer is a strange structure more than...