Where Can You Get Solar Eclipse Glasses in Evansville, IN

With the Great Solar Eclipse fast approaching, people are scrambling to get their hands on eclipse viewing glasses but where can you find them in Evansville?

First and foremost, you should not ever look directly at the sun with the naked eye. You can cause irreparable damage. That being said, just because you have a pair of solar eclipse glasses to use for the eclipse August 21st, doesn't mean you're in the clear either. It seems that there are some glasses on the market that are not on the NASA approved safe-list. That actually ended up being the case with the glasses that the Evansville-Vanderburgh Public Library intended to hand out. According to a press release from the EVPL:

Responding to recent inquiries and the press release by NASA, the staff at EVPL discussed the possibility of obtaining glasses to be distributed to the public.  As a public library, we believe it is within our best interest to offer access to this rare event.  Therefore, a number of glasses were ordered with the intent to be distributed, free of charge, to the public.

 

After ordering the glasses last week, EVPL has since learned that, despite our best effort to have obtained certified glasses, we are now unable to confirm that the glasses are certified.

There are a lot of organizations that are being asked about glasses and they simply don't have any.

I've seen a lot of people asking on Facebook where they can buy the glasses and there are a lot of suggestions. Just this morning a saw a post from the Nick Nackery that they are currently out of stock but are expecting another couple of shipments.

According to NASA there are certain criteria that your viewing glasses must meet in order to be considered safe:

Have certification information with a designated ISO 12312-2 international standard

Have the manufacturer’s name and address printed somewhere on the product

Not be used if they are older than three years, or have scratched or wrinkled lenses

Not use homemade filters

Ordinary sunglasses -- even very dark ones -- should not be used as a replacement for eclipse viewing glasses or handheld solar viewers

If you need a list of reputable vendors/manufacturers of eclipse viewing glasses you can find it on the website for the American Astronomical Society.