I know a lot of people in the US are super excited for the eclipse on August 21st. I’m in that group. But if you’re going to look at the eclipse, you need solar eclipse glasses. No sunglasses. And don’t even think about going with no eye protection at all. You can go blind if you look at the eclipse. Going without solar eclipse glasses is NOT optional.
That said, there are people cashing in on the solar eclipse craze. They’re making fake eclipse glasses. The Seattle Times reported on the fakes on August 8th and spoke with a spokesperson for the American Astronomical Society (AAS) about it. Even if the fake glasses seem safe, they’re not. Richard Tresch Fienbern from the AAS explained:
“The problem with fakes is that you can’t know if they’re letting unsafe levels of solar ultraviolet and/or infrared radiation into your eyes. You’d never know until it’s too late because our retinas don’t have pain receptors.”
Fake eclipse glasses can look incredibly convincing. Here is a pair that my mom purchased on eBay.
If you have some solar eclipse glasses already, look for this code:
ISO 12312-2
If that code is not on your solar eclipse glasses do not wear them. Even if they are safe, it is not worth the risk. You can do irreversible damage to your eyes if you look at an eclipse without the right eye wear. This includes blindness. Again, you can go blind if you look at an eclipse with improper eye wear.
Be safe. Get the real deal. The links have been provided to you above.
Please spread this post so more people can see it.
Thank you.
Amazon sent out a bunch of incorrect recalls. I got
Baader Planetarium ones, via
Agena Astro, a reputable authorized reseller for Baader, but Amazon still incorrectly said they “couldn’t confirm” that they were legit
On the other hand, evidently some fakes go so far as to print the ISO cert number on them even though they aren’t.
Honestly, I have some legit glasses verified safe by the local museum I bought them from, and you know what the sun looks like through? an orange ball. and then during the eclipse it will look like a smaller and smaller crescent. It’s not that exciting. And when you have the glasses on, you literally cannot see anything else other than the sun, because they’re blocking out so much light. So you’re not going to be able to see the other weird stuff that happens around you.
Also, even if your glasses are verified safe, watch out for damage/wrinkles/cracks/scratches which might not fully block the radiation. About 30 seconds is enough to cause permanent damage to your eyes.
If you want to be safe and not worry about it, you can live stream it online. Just hook your phone up to the stream and look at everything that’s not the sun.
Another note: DO NOT look at the eclipse through a camera lens, telescope, binoculars, etc. EVEN WHEN YOU HAVE SOLAR GLASSES ON. Like no holding up your DSLR or polaroid and watching through that. Glass lenses refract and intensify light.
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