HOUSTON — The eclipse is less than three weeks away and to truly experience this rare event you need to protect your eyes. In a recent press conference NASA talked about why all glasses are not created equal.
“We do want to warn that there have been some that there are some fakes out on the market, that we witnessed previously and currently in major online sellers," said Dr. Alex Lockwood with NASA.
So how do you protect yourself?
- Look for ISO certified glasses
- They should be marked on the box and the glasses
- If torn or scratched or otherwise damaged don’t use them
NASA also said there's a simple way to test them out.
"If you hold up your cell phone camera on the back there’s a flashlight and if you use these to look at a cell phone camera you should only see a tiny point of light and absolutely nothing else," said Dr. Lockwood.
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Be careful who you buy your glasses from. The American Astronomical Society has a list of reputable vendors and manufactures of eclipse glasses on their website.
If you don’t have glasses, you can use an eclipse viewer, but it should still meet ISO standards. You can also use a pinhole protector and we have more information on how to do that here.
What if someone has glasses from the 2017 eclipse can you still use them?
Yes, but check and make sure they are ISO glasses and the filters aren’t scratched, punctured or torn.
A lot of people will want to take photos of the eclipse, if you wear your eclipse glasses is that safe to do?
Experts say do not look at the sun through a camera lens, telescope, binoculars or any other optical device wearing eclipse glasses. The concentrated solar rays can burn through the filter and hurt your eyes.
KHOU 11 will be broadcasting live from Space Center Houston with anchors Mia Gradney, Len Cannon and Chief Meteorologist David Paul. Our coverage begins at noon on KHOU 11 and streaming for free on KHOU 11 + through Roku, FireTV and AppleTV.
You can get tickets now and find out more about the big party at SpaceCenter.org.