Don’t stare at the sun today. At least, not without proper eye wear to watch the total solar eclipse on Monday, April 8.
With over a million people expected to descend on New York today to watch the once-in-a-lifetime event, if you haven’t already snagged your free eclipse glasses, they may be hard to come by.
>>See the latest total solar eclipse forecast.
Sunglasses, ski goggles, polarized filters, x-ray film and more are not suitable for looking directly at the sun, which can cause serious damage to your eyes, experts have warned. Even stacking multiple pairs of sunglasses isn’t a solution for eclipse watching, according to an ophthalmologist interviewed by CBS News.
“There’s no amount of sunglasses that people can put on that will make up for the filtering that the ISO standard filters and the eclipse glasses provide,” said Dr. Jason P. Brinton.
As some companies have been selling counterfeit glasses, the American Astronomical Society (AAS) says it’s no longer sufficient to only check for the ISO standard printed on the products. Safe solar eclipse glasses should have no punctures, scratches or tears and the lens should be securely in the frame. With the glasses on, you should only be able to see the sun or something comparably bright.
If you see ordinary brightness through the eclipse glasses or a handheld filter, the glasses should not be used.
Stuck without eclipse-safe glasses? There are still options to watch the eclipse, using materials found at home.
NASA offers instructions on how to make your own cereal box pinhole viewer. Here’s what you’ll need:
- Cereal box
- Piece of heavy-duty foil
- Piece of white cardboard cut to fit in the bottom of the cereal box (for easier viewing)
- Paper to cover the cereal box
- Markers/Pictures used for the design of the box
- Scissors
- Tape or glue
See the complete instructions by clicking here.
Once you have completed your cereal box viewer, it should be held with the pin-hole side facing the sun and you will look…
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