How to find approved solar eclipse glasses

If you’re on the hunt for eclipse viewing glasses or equipment before the April 8 eclipse, you may find they’re in short supply.

Here are some tips on how to find safe and useful eclipse-viewing gear.

WHY YOU NEED EYE PROTECTION

Ophthalmologist Dr. Kyle MacLean with the LaserCare Eye Center tells NBC 5 that consumers should view the eclipse with proper eye protection.

“What we really worry about is a condition called solar retinopathy. That's when you've looked directly at the sun and received damage to the back part of your eye or the retina,” explained Dr. MacLean.

He said the damage could be permanent.

“Typically, this will cause a decrease in vision. It can improve slowly, but it may take three to six months. Sometimes it may not fully improve and you may have a permanent or long-term loss of sharpness in your vision,” Dr. MacLean added.

Sunglasses don’t offer enough protection. Solar glasses are thousands of times darker than sunglasses.

WHAT TO KNOW WHEN YOU SHOP

Consumers should look for eclipse glasses or viewers made for direct observation of the sun; products meeting the ISO 12312-2 international standard.

Astronomer Rick Fienberg tells NBC 5 Responds that simply looking for a product with the ISO designation printed on the product isn’t enough.

“Anybody can print on eclipse glasses that their product meets that standard. How do you know that it really does? The only way to know for sure is that it's gotten tested,” said Dr. Fienberg.

Dr. Fienberg is a volunteer with the American Astronomical Society’s Solar Eclipse Task Force and maintains this list of suppliers and distributors of solar viewing glasses and equipment. Fienberg said he asks for test results from a lab, accredited to test for compliance with the ISO standard for solar viewers, before adding a manufacturer or distributor to the list.

“If a dealer sends me a test report and says this comes from factory X, I contact factory X and say, are you supplying this guy? I'm trying to check it from both sides,” said Dr. Fienberg.

Fienberg points out that if a supplier isn’t on the list, it doesn’t mean a product isn’t safe or useful in an eclipse. With so many sellers, he said it would be impossible for to vet them all. However, clicking through the list and finding what you need in stock is a good start.

“Our advice to people is don't just randomly search for eclipse glasses of any type or solar viewers of any type online, and buy from the first thing that pops up or the cheapest thing that pops up,” said Dr. Fienberg.

The list includes information about special filters for cameras or telescopes. Experts say you should not look at the sun through a camera lens without a solar filter. You should not use eclipse glasses or handheld viewers with cameras, binoculars or telescopes.

MAKE A PLAN

If you can’t find enough eclipse viewers for each person in your family, make plans to share. You have more than an hour to observe the phases of the eclipse as it approaches totality over North Texas.

“Just share it around, take a look every few minutes and you'll see, look, the sun's a thinner crescent now; look, the moon has left the sun completely now,” explained Dr. Fienberg.

For children, Dr. MacLean said to make sure any solar eclipse viewing glasses fit, “You want to make sure their eyes are completely covered by the filters. There's not going to be sun that's leaking in from the edge or from the middle of the glasses.”

Dr. MacLean explains it’s safe to look up without special glasses while the moon completely covers the sun - as long as no part of the sun is peeking out.

In much of North Texas, you can expect about four minutes of totality.

“It's just amazing,” said Dr. Fienberg of a total eclipse. “There's no more beautiful celestial sight that you can experience.”

If you have eclipse glasses from a previous eclipse, look them over to make sure the filters are not torn, scratched, or punctured. If filters are coming loose from their cardboard or plastic frames, don’t use them.

If you don’t have glasses or equipment, there are indirect ways to view the eclipse. Check out this page for instructions.

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