Why solar viewing glasses are so important during The Great Eclipse
Join us for New Jersey’s Largest Astronomy Party! On Monday, April 8, 2024, you’re invited to celebrate The Great Eclipse at Liberty Science Center.
On that day, the sun will be 91.2% covered in a near-total eclipse. You won't see anything like this again until 2044.
Here at the Science Center, we’re giving out free solar viewing glasses – they’re included with every admission ticket on April 8!
These glasses are safe to use, which is important because improper viewing of a partial solar eclipse can cause eye damage.
Some people are tempted to use “homegrown” filters, but almost all of these homegrown filters allow too much ultraviolet and infrared light to pass through. Too much infrared light will act like an infrared heat lamp, and can “cook” the retina of your inner eye quickly. Too much ultraviolet light and the corona of your eye can cloud over!
The following are all unsafe viewing techniques:
- Smoked glass, no matter how dark
- Exposed color film, no matter how many layers
- Multiple pairs of sunglasses
- Looking at the sun with the naked eye, even through layers of clouds
- Looking through the viewfinder of a camera that does not have a special reflective filter
- Looking through any telescope or binoculars without professional solar filters on the front of the optics
Solar viewing glasses, however, provide convenient, safe viewing, screening out nearly all the sun’s light while still allowing you to see the eclipse in progress.
You can learn more about eclipse safety over on NASA’s website.
Don’t miss the fun! Click here to get all the details on LSC’s celebration of The Great Eclipse, and purchase your tickets now.
