Many will be traveling somewhere next weekend to check out the eclipse on Monday the 21st. I myself have never seen a total solar eclipse before (but my wife has once). The next thing to worry about is will the weather be bright and sunny wherever you may be going to even see the astronomical event.
Beyond that, if you plan to look up into the sky at our solar system’s fireball you will want to make sure you don’t go blind and that means something to darken it to safe levels. There are tons of sellers on Amazon but not all are ISO 12312-2 certified as recommended. So is there another choice?
Tell me, how long has it been since you went to your local library? Years you say? You are likely paying taxes for the building so why not do what SpaceScience.org recommends ring them up and see if they have a free set to give you!
What if you already have a set from wherever or want to test the ones you picked up at your local library? CBSNEWS.com asked Alex Young, a NASA solar astrophysicist who told them:
“[test] your eclipse glasses by holding them up to an LED lightbulb. Certified eclipse glasses should fully block out the light, but impostors may fall short.” – CBSNEWS.com
I tested mine with both a bright white and yellow LED and they passed this test. Having never really “looked” at the sun it is interesting to look up at it into a clear blue sky.
Anyway, now that you have this part of your eclipse adventure taken care of i.e. not going blind you can worry about other important things like will your hotel or car company cancel your reservation and try to charge you some crazy rack rate amount and will your upgrade clear on the way there and back! 😉 – René
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Maybe a little late, but discovered when I flew into PDX yesterday that Travel Oregon was giving out free viewers and viewing guides (with safety tips and a track map) at their welcome booth 🙂 PDX airport itself is even closing the top level of their parking ramp tomorrow morning for people to have a good, safe place for watching.
@Rene, thanks for the tips, Hope everyone has a clear view of the sky tomorrow!