Nearly 31 million Americans will be in the path of a total solar eclipse on April 8, with almost all of the rest of the country able to witness a partial solar eclipse.
Except for several minutes during totality, wearing special glasses is necessary for viewing the eclipse.
Staring at a solar eclipse not in totality could cause damage to the eye, NASA said. Regular sunglasses also are insufficient for looking at solar eclipses.
NASA said solar eclipse glasses should be marked with ISO 12312-2 on them to confirm they are safe for usage during a solar eclipse.
American Paper Optics CEO John Jerit said in a late 2023 interview with Scripps News the solar eclipse glasses his company makes are ISO 12312-2 certified.
"It means that we've sent it to a lab, we had the filters checked, the construction checked on it and we have a certificate saying that the glasses are safe and have been manufactured safely," Jerit said.
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He said the back of his glasses have safety instructions on them for users.
"The ISO standard deals with the amount of blockage that these filters do, and it's a black polymer with a silver coating on it," he said. "So they block harmful ultraviolet and infrared rays so that you can safely look at the sun."
While on a global scale, eclipses like next month's event are not rare, a solar eclipse is not a sight we get to see in our own backyard too often. Next month's eclipse is just the second total solar eclipse to be visible in the U.S. in the last 45 years.
The next total solar eclipse visible in the U.S. after next month won't be until 2045.
While it may seem like you're purchasing glasses for a one-time event, there is a decent chance you can use the glasses again.
A partial solar eclipse will be visible again in 2026 for much of the northern U.S. There will also be solar eclipses visible in the U.S. in 2028 and 2029.
While it used to be said that eclipse glasses had a three-year lifespan, NASA said solar glasses that are well preserved and without scratches can be reused indefinitely.
For April's total solar eclipse, the sun will be completely covered by the moon. Residents along a 100-mile-wide swath from the Texas/Mexico border all the way up to Maine can see the total solar eclipse — weather pending, of course.
