TEXAS, USA — The countdown continues to the total solar eclipse, and Central Texas will be the perfect place to be. As April 8 approaches, more people are hunting for the right pair of glasses and wondering where they can buy them safely.
It's a sight you'll only be able to see safely with the right total solar eclipse glasses.
"There are many, many sellers of eyeglasses," CEO of American Paper Optics John Jerit said. "Some are counterfeit. They might be perfectly safe, they may not be, so why take a chance?"
There are hundreds of glasses out there, so it can be pretty tricky when it comes to finding the right pair.
The first thing you want to look for is the ISO code. It should read 12312-2.
It's also important to make sure glasses are US lab ISO certified so little light will go through.
Glasses should have silvery front lenses and black inside lenses.
If you are buying glasses online, do not randomly order through Amazon. Ask the Amazon seller before you order for the proper certifications and figure out who the source is.
"You want to make sure it's been tested in a US Lab, not a lab in China," Jerit added.
Going directly to vendors is what the experts recommend.
"Your eyes are too important," Jerit said. "You want a good quality product, and we're talking about just a few dollars here for a lifetime experience."
As far as when to keep your glasses on and when to take them off, Dr. Barbara Castanheira Endl with Baylor University says there are a few things you need to keep in mind.
"Put your glasses on and then you look to the sun and then you look away and you take them off," Endl said. "You only have the four minutes, or a little over four minutes depending on where you are, when the moon is fully eclipsing the sun that you can look, and you should, because if you look through your glasses, you won't be able to see the sun. That's the only thing that has to be done."
To make sure your eclipse classes are safe, you can check out the American Astronomical Society's (AAS) approved list.
"Most of the major suppliers of solar filters already went and got their certification a long time ago with the AAS," Debra Ross, Co-chair of the American Astronomical Society Solar Eclipse Task Force, said. "You want to just make sure that your supplier or distributor is on that list."
For more on the total solar eclipse, visit kcentv.com/eclipse.
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