Glasses for full solar eclipse

August 12, 2023 8:12 AM

Hey all, We'll be in range of the full solar eclipse in April. In looking at the Ask me questions from the last time this occurred in our area (about 7 years ago), there are a lot of suggestions for LAST MINUTE choices and also a lot of suggestions for... "good enough", I guess? With this much lead time, I ask... what is the best/safest/economical choice. (Yes. I know. Pick two.) My sleuthing gave some ideas below.

Cardboard ones like this just make me feel unsafe.

These look like they might be okay? At least two of the three of us would be fine wearing baseball caps to attach these to.

These seem a tiny bit better?

Or is this the best bet?

I am probably way overthinking this, but want to make sure my fam doesn't risk eye damage.

p.s. bonus points for stuff to do in San Antonio that we haven't done in the last four or five trips.

posted by a non mouse, a cow herd to Science & Nature (14 answers total)

Best answer: I bought cardboard glasses for the 2017 event and they were perfectly fine. Even got some extras to hand to friends and neighbors that got caught short.

However, make sure they are "ISO certified", and really certified not just a fake mark. There was a flood of counterfeit glasses that hit Amazon and other vendors in the months before the eclipse and...you don't want those.

Space.com has some guidelines on how to tell if yours are good.
posted by JoeZydeco at 8:32 AM on August 12, 2023 [12 favorites]

Best answer: JoeZydeco has great advice. If you don't want to have to make decisions about trusting glasses, you could always make a pinhole camera to avoid looking directly at the sun entirely. Those instructions describe holding the pinhole free-hand, but when I was a kid, we used a shoebox , with the pinhole at one end and the paper screen at the other.
posted by Alterscape at 9:18 AM on August 12, 2023 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I also used rinky-dink looking cardboard frame glasses for the 2017 eclipse and was fine. Agreed that you should make sure you're getting the right ones. A slightly out-there additional recommendation: bring a colander - the holes will be small enough that they will be pinhole-y but there are a lot of them and it looks crazy.
posted by lousywiththespirit at 4:22 PM on August 12, 2023 [2 favorites]

I got little rinky dink cardboard glasses from our planetarium and they were great, and I trust the planetarium to source the real deal.
posted by phunniemee at 6:23 PM on August 12, 2023 [1 favorite]

Nthing that the cardboard ones are fine if you get them from a reputable source. I used them in 2017 as well.
posted by Aleyn at 8:18 PM on August 12, 2023

I got the Thousand Oaks glasses cardboard glasses direct from their website in 2017 and bought more for the coming events in Oct & April. Bought a 50-pack to share months in advance so they'd be cheap and not price-gougey, they'd be less likely to be fakes, and they'd be in ready supply. Randomly tested several pairs against household lights, and sunlight by indirect observation, and they've been fine both times.
posted by xedrik at 10:05 PM on August 12, 2023

I wonder if the mods would be OK with a link or two to purchase "known to be good" glasses. I would like to buy a lot of them to give out when the time comes, but I don't want to buy a lot of fakes...
posted by nixxon at 10:47 PM on August 12, 2023

Can't speak for the mods, but in general the rule is against self-promotion or spamminess from what I understand. If you know a source and don't directly benefit from sharing links to that source, you're likely fine. Certainly I've provided links to storefronts in answers to asks plenty of times.
posted by Aleyn at 11:32 PM on August 12, 2023

I got those paperboard ones from the Museum of Science in Boston; they were great, got passed all around at my son's school ages ago.
posted by theora55 at 8:37 AM on August 13, 2023

For this year/next year, I've stocked up with a small stash of Celestron-branded cardboard-but-sturdy glasses from High Point Scientific. Enough for me, a couple of family members, and a few more for spares or shares.

Driving to Nebraska for the 2017 event, I saw people selling eclipse glasses for $10 or more out of vans and pickups. Buying now is a good idea.
posted by gimonca at 8:50 AM on August 13, 2023

The cardboard ones are fine. I bought some for the 2017 eclipse as well, from a scientific supply place. I think it was here? Bill Nye approved!
posted by fiercekitten at 9:30 AM on August 13, 2023

Response by poster: I could really mark all as best answer. Thank you, all, for taking the time to alleviate my concerns. Cardboard glasses purchased! With some to share with strangers new friends!

eta: These for those who may be in the area and want to be crafty.
posted by a non mouse, a cow herd at 9:58 AM on August 13, 2023

NASA HELIO YEAR I just wanted to call your attention to this link that has a whole bunch of cool solar stuff from NASA, including the two eclipses, with lots of supporting information.
posted by effluvia at 5:46 PM on August 13, 2023

Mod note: > I wonder if the mods would be OK with a link or two to purchase "known to be good" glasses.

Sure! We usually look askance at unknown people who just sign up to post links to retail items in related questions, but regular members posting links to things they have reason to believe are worthwhile is a valuable aspect of the site!
posted by taz (staff) at 2:16 AM on August 14, 2023 [1 favorite]