Spotted Practicing Eclipse Safety

Glasses and map from Great American Eclipse. Props to Amazon and the USPS for getting the solar binoculars here on time, after faffing about. (Amazon, not the PO. Our local PO does good job.) Sneers to an unnamed astronomical equipment company for taking 8 days to let us know our order was out of stock. It’s not like the increase in demand was a surprise, people. Yes, I should have ordered earlier (again, not a surprise event), that’s on me. Order management is on them. (Pulls self out of rant spiral.)

Enjoy
Astronomy Cast suggests sitting back and grooving on the cosmic experience, if this is your first totality. Don’t worry about photos, or data, or whatever. You can go all science nerd at the next one. Ep. 448: Prepping for the Eclipse

NASA’s eclipse site
American Astronomical Society eclipse site
Really, it’s hard to avoid hearing/reading about it

Be Safe
By now, you’ve heard about eye safety. But why, other than we like our eyes?

However, it’s extremely dangerous to look at the sun, even if most of its light is obscured by the moon. Just as a magnifying glass can focus enough sunlight onto a leaf to start a fire, the lens in your eye can also focus that sliver of light onto your retina to burn it. And because retinas have no pain receptors, you can permanently damage your vision without even feeling it happen. Let us make this perfectly clear: Don’t look at the sun during a solar eclipse! LiveScience > Space.com, STEM Camp: Build Your Own Solar Eclipse Viewer (Emphasis mine.)

Did you know that counterfeit eclipse glasses are a thing? How can someone do that and sleep at night? Anyway,

• The glasses should have certification information, with a designated ISO 12312-2 international standard.
• The actual manufacturer’s name and address should be printed somewhere on the glasses.
• Don’t use glasses that are wrinkled, scratched, or more than three years old.
• Don’t use regular sunglasses, no matter how dark they are.

NASA recommends buying glasses from from one of five manufacturers:
• American Paper Optics
• Baader Planetarium (AstroSolar Silver/Gold film only)
• Rainbow Symphony
• Thousand Oaks Optical
• TSE 17

Consumerist.com: Please Do Not Buy Counterfeit Solar Eclipse Glasses

Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott