GRAND RAPIDS, Mich — It’s an out-of-this-world event that you have to see to believe. The upcoming solar eclipse will give us earthly spectators a real show on April 8th when the moon passes between the earth and the sun, causing a total solar eclipse.
But the most important part of the cosmic ballet is watching safely, and that means using a pair of eclipse glasses.
"That's when it goes completely dark," President and CEO of American Paper Optics John Jerit told FOX 17. "It's amazing."
His company makes eclipse glasses, and —with their sights set on April 8th— they're trying to help you do the same.
"Our safe solar eclipse glasses are 10,000 times darker than a regular pair of sunglasses that you might wear out on the street or beach," said John. "You can see that we've got special filters in the glasses that have been certified and lab tested. And they allow you to safely look at the sun as long as you're following the instructions on the back of the glass."
The full eclipse will last about three hours on the 8th with the best part of the show taking place in the first hour and a half or so. The peak performance of the eclipse is the path of totality, which can only be seen along a certain path, coming through Mexico, Texas, Indiana, and Ohio.
That is where the moon is perfectly lined up with the sun creating the shadow – going completely dark.
That won't happen here in West Michigan, we'll only hit about 95% coverage. But the space-bound spectacle is short-lived, so make sure you are prepared.
WANT TO GET THE MOST OUT OF THE ECLIPSE? Prepare for the eclipse with these events at the Grand Rapids Public Library
"Once you hit totality for wherever you are, whether it's a couple of minutes, maybe up to four and a half minutes in certain places," said John. "That's the only time you can safely view you can take your glasses off only when you're in totality but as soon as totality ends, you got to get those glasses back on to protect your eyes."
And you are going to want to make sure your glasses are in good condition – no tears, big scratches, or punctures - and be careful where you get them because not all glasses are created equal.
"One of the places that we have seen that the most counterfeiting going on is on eBay, a lot of old glasses— a lot of bad glasses and glasses that actually have our name on the back of that we do manufacture," Jerit explained. "And then if you're going to buy them on Amazon, you want to make sure that the seller has bought them and redistributed them. And we have a lot of people who buy and resell, that they have bought them from American Paper Optics or another US-based manufacturer. "
To grab yours direct from the source, check the American Paper Optics website.
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