I buy a lot of my telescope equipment from Celestron so I got their kit. It was like $2 more than the knockoff brands but I like my eyeballs so went with a company I trust with relatively inexpensive optics.
this post was submitted on 06 Apr 2024
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Pretty much every gas station I’ve been to the past week had a box of glasses
I am near the totality line, but stressing over this problem resulted in me giving up planning to see it.
Seeing the eclipse directly would be cool, sure, but it will certainly be photographed extensively. I feel like permanently damaging my vision is way too likely buying something off of Amazon, and I don't have a clue where else I can find them.
If you can get to an area where it will be in totality, you can see it without eye protection during that brief 2-3 minute window. The danger to your eyes is when it's at anything less than full total eclipse.
Workaround: You can see the eclipse with a low tech solution of a pinhole camera. Google it for a better explanation, but
-poke a pin through a sheet of paper. -during the eclipse, just hold it over something like another sheet of paper and you can see an accurate projection of the sun as the eclipse progresses
It's actually pretty neat.
But if your weather is good, consider going to a place where the eclipse will be total. I'm in the path, but I'm seriously considering driving several hours to a place with a better weather forecast. I've seen good quality photo and video of total eclipses since I was a child. And the people who showed it to me (astronomy nerds from a club) told me "it's not the same."
I'm driving about 15 hours (over 2 days, not all at once, lol) from Virginia to the totality path with a "just ok" forecast. I made a similar trip in 2017. It is definitely not the same as looking at a picture. It's the changes in atmosphere, the insects' behavior, the light quality all around you that make a totality viewing special. If you can make it somewhere with decent enough skies, you will be glad you did.
I have a set of these: https://www.bestbuy.com/site/celestron-eclipssmart-3-piece-solar-eclipse-observing-and-imaging-kit-blue-black/5869208.p?skuId=5869208
I think they are pretty legit? They come with like, a whole kit and stuff...
Celestron is a name I know and would trust. My dad had one of their telescopes and it was pretty nice. That was in the '80s though.
Thank you, yes...I'll probably do the pinhole camera I suppose. I won't be quite in totality, so definitely don't want to risk it without protection. But I might try Lowes, from BeardedBlaze's recommendation, since I assume there's accountability in their distribution chain.
For what it's worth, I bought 2 pair at Lowes.
Thank you, where did you find them? Is there a display, or was it in a certain section?
There was a tub of them middle of the walkway, close to the check out registers
I got mine at home depot, there was a tub of them between the checkout and power tools. Like 2 bucks per.
I don't know. I'll have to check mine
Are pinhole glasses safe? Just a pinhole made between two pieces of cardboard? We made those when I was a kid, though we never got to see an eclipse.
In case this is not sarcasm: Do not use selfmade glasses to observe the eclipse. It will temporarily or even permanently blind you.
I can't see it anyway from my part of the world :( I was just curious because it doesn't seem like it would be safe, but it was literally taught to me in elementary school.
You can use a pinhole to project an image of the sun onto a sheet of paper but not directly as glasses. Look up a 'pinhole projector' you can make a pretty good one with an Amazon box.