Total eclipse of protective glasses?
Retailers having hard time keeping up with demand for Aug. 21 event
Suddenly, solar eclipse glasses are almost as rare as the eclipse.
We’ve all heard the dire warnings not to stare on Aug. 21, when the sun will be partly covered by the moon. Remember how, as a kid, you ignited paper using the sun and a magnifying glass? That’s what happens to your retina.
That’s why you need those special specs. But good luck finding them.
Just as the rest of America makes a mad dash for toilet paper before every blizzard or tornado, we’ve depleted Bay Area supplies of eclipse glasses.
The Space Science Institute, which sent 2 million glasses to our local libraries, has run out. Lowe’s? They’re all gone. Walmart? Zip. REI? On back order.
Most reputable eclipse glasses vendors are not taking new orders anymore. Another leading company, American Paper Optics, still has some glasses, but you’ve got to buy them in bulk — 50 or 100 glasses, which is enough to outfit your entire block.
“Demand has been sky high. It started 2-1/2 weeks ago and has about doubled
each week since,” said Bob Luffel of the Idaho-based distributor Alpine Astronomical, which sold out of its planned inventory on Wednesday and now is doing a rush production order from Germany. “We were a little skeptical and conservative like everyone else.”
You can find some glasses on Amazon, but beware of cheap counterfeit knockoffs. Consumers should look for the stamp of approval from the International Organization for Standardization and a label saying the glasses meet the ISO 12312-2 international safety standard.
Have your heart set on Bill Nye The Science Guy glasses? The minimum order will cost you $100. And expect to pay dearly for rush shipping.
Even the fancy do-it-yourself materials, like sheets of special polymer paper, have vanished like tickets to Hamilton.
Here’s a few places to try: Oakland’s Chabot Space Center’s gift shop ($3), San Francisco’s Exploratorium Store ($2.75) and the hip eyewear store Warby Parker (free), with locations in San Jose, Palo Alto, Berkeley and San Francisco. But be sure to call first to check inventory.
You can go to a weldingsupply store and buy a piece of #14 arcwelder’s glass. Or you can watch the sun indirectly, projecting it through a pinhole box projector.
A few Bay Area libraries still have glasses in stock. But they’re guarding them fiercely, saving them for distribution at upcoming library-sponsored eclipse events.
“We started with 150 glasses, but they were all claimed in the first hour. It was crazy,” said Brian Edwards, principal librarian of the Fremont branch of the Alameda County Library, which pulled money from its Library Trust Fund to bankroll its purchases. “We bought more, but they’re hard to find now.”
At Santa Cruz County libraries, “They went like hotcakes,” said Jessica Goodman, regional manager of Santa Cruz Public Libraries. While their branches still have a small number of free glasses available — on a first-come, first-serve basis, one per family — they’re
going fast and may run out, she said.
“We live in a place where people of all ages are really interested in the scientific events in their day-to-day lives,” Goodman said.
Normal sunglasses won’t protect your eyes, even if they’re stacked. They only block about 60 percent of light rays.
Don’t blame the moon for suddenly springing a big surprise on us. We had plenty of warning. As far back as 1375 B.C., we’ve marveled at solar eclipses. Even Copernicus could have told us it was coming.
The eclipse is almost here and the early birds may have beat you to the supplies of special viewing glasses. But libraries still have them. (They’re nothing fancy — just paper. Think Napolean Dynamite, not Rihanna.) Here’s where to look:
On Saturday afternoon, the Milpitas branch of the Santa Clara County Library will hand out glasses at a talk by astronomer Andrew Fraknoi, from 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. Glasses will also be distributed Wednesday night at the Gilroy branch’s 7 p.m. presentation by NASA scientist Elizabeth Keller.
On the day of the eclipse, Monday Aug. 21, glasses will offered at viewing parties at many libraries. To find a library that’s offering free glasses, go to: http://spacescience.org/software/libraries/map.php.
Participating libraries include the Oakland Public Library, Alameda Free Library, Berkeley Public Library, Contra Costa County libraries (Pleasant Hill and Danville), Pleasanton Public Library, Livermore Public Library, some San Jose Public libraries, some Santa Clara County libraries, Santa Clara City Library, Saratoga Library, Palo Alto City Library, Menlo Park Library and some branches of San Mateo County Libraries.
Eclipse glasses also will be offered by the College of San Mateo at their viewing party on the Plaza of the Sun from 8:30 a.m. until noon on Aug. 21.
Special viewing parties, with glasses or livestreaming, also will be held from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Chabot Space and Science Center; from 9 a.m. to 11:37 a.m. at Foothill College Observatory and from 9 a.m. to 12 noon at The Exploratorium.