‘Don’t look’: Trump briefly stared at the sun without eclipse glasses

US President Donald Trump has reportedly ignored pleas of scientists not to look at the sun without protective glasses during Monday's total solar eclipse. From a balcony at the White House, the US leader briefly looked directly into the sun without his eclipse glasses.

The president and his wife Melania, along with their 11-year-old son Barron, witnessed the total solar eclipse on the Truman Balcony. Trump initially put on eclipse glasses, but took them off and stared upwards at the sun for a brief moment.

As he did, one of the aides from the crowd below shouted “don’t look,” Wall Street Journal‘s Ted Mann revealed. The moment was captured in photo and was posted on Twitter.

But the US president may not be the only one who looked into the sun without eclipse glasses. A video featuring NFL star Odell Beckham Jr, which was posted on Twitter, appears to show him squinting into the sun.

“Looking directly at the sun is unsafe except during the brief total phase of a solar eclipse ('totality'), when the moon entirely blocks the sun’s bright face, which will happen only within the narrow path of totality,” the NASA website reads. The organisation explained that the only safe way to look directly at the sun is by using special-purpose solar filters like eclipse glasses.

Earlier on Monday, Trump’s daughter and advisor Ivanka shared a Boomerang video of herself wearing special-filter glasses to remind her followers on Instagram to wear protective glasses for the eclipse. “Excited for #Eclipse2017? Remember to wear your glasses. #NASA #STEM,” she wrote. The FLOTUS also tweeted about the eclipse.

When reporters asked him about how he felt about the event, Trump reportedly responded with a thumbs up. The total solar eclipse appeared to have dazzled Americans across the country.

The moon turned day into night when it blocked out the sun on Monday in the first total solar eclipse to pass over the mainland United States in 38 years. The best seats were along the so-called path of totality that raced 2,600 miles across the continent from Oregon to South Carolina.

It took 90 minutes for the shadow of the moon to travel across America. According to NASA, 4.4 million people were watching its coverage midway through the eclipse, marking the biggest livestream event in NASA’s history.