A to Z Challenge Blog 2024: The Letter G

Welcome to Week 2 of the A to Z Challenge Blog 2024. How’s your Monday shaping up? Mine is filled with excitement and curiosity. Why? Well, for the first time in my lifetime, I will see a total solar eclipse from my own backyard. Here’s the link with the details of the event. https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/in/canada/cornwall?iso=20240408

So what does that fantastic opportunity have to do with the letter G? Glasses! It’s all about the glasses people have to wear to protect their eyes. Looking up at the sun can cause permanent damage. People are being told to keep their pets inside, too.

When the media started talking about the eclipse, I was so-so about it. I mean, what was the big deal? We’d had partial ones, but … Then, the school board changed the date of a PD day so that the kids wouldn’t be getting out of school during the time of totality. That caught my attention, but somewhere inside my head, I’d failed to understand what that actually meant. I decided to research the event, and what I discovered amazed me.

The eclipse will last 2 hours and twenty-three minutes from start to finish, with the time of totality, when it will get dark, will go on for 2 minutes and 16 seconds. The one thing every description of past eclipses had in common was that each person felt that a total eclipse of the sun was without a doubt one of nature’s most phenomenal events, something you definitely wanted to see if you could. Considering that the next one visible here won’t happen until 2093, I won’t be around to see it. This is definitely a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Towns and cities in the band of totality area expect thousands of people to show up to see it. Some have declared states of emergency because of it. Our city is hosting an eclipse party in the park, but I will not be there. I can enjoy the event in the comfort of my own yard. Safer, easier, no parking spot required.

With that in mind, I’ve opted to get the necessary eye protection to truly experience the wonder. I turned to Amazon, researched the brands available, and settled for Soluna. The glasses are made of paper. When I saw them, I was reminded of the 3D glasses we used to punch off the back of cereal boxes. Still, as flimsy as they seem, these paper glasses meet the ISO12312-2 safety requirements. I purchased 5 pairs since our sons would be home. My daughter has purchased some for the grandkids so we are all protected.

Here is some of the information available from the site above specific to eclipse glasses.

Eclipse Glasses

The American Astronomical Society has compiled a list of vendors where you can buy safe eclipse glasses. Make sure you carefully read the instructions that come with the glasses.

NASA also recommends welder’s glasses rated 14 or higher. These can be found at your local welding supply store. Keep in mind that welder glass grading may be different in different countries.

When to Use Eclipse Glasses

Eclipse glasses must be used whenever the disk of the Sun itself can be seen. This means:

• All the time during a partial eclipse
• All the time during an annular eclipse—this includes the brief moments of annularity, when the Sun forms a dazzling ‘ring of fire’ around the Moon
• During the partial phases of a total eclipse

In the brief moments of totality during a total solar eclipse, the Sun is completely covered, and the ghostly solar corona becomes visible around the Moon.

For these few moments, eclipse viewers can be safely removed. (In fact, if you don’t take off your eye protection, you won’t be able to see the solar corona.)

Practice Using Eclipse Glasses

To get the most out of an eclipse—and to avoid the risk of accidental exposure to the Sun—Professor Chou recommends that everyone practices using their solar eclipse viewers.

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How to Use Eclipse Glasses

• Hold the eclipse glasses with two hands
• Stand with the front of your body toward the Sun, but look down
• Still looking down, put the eclipse glasses onto your face
• When they are securely fastened, raise your head and look up at the Sun

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“Finally,” says Professor Chou, “don’t try to walk around with them on your face, because you can’t see anything.”

Here’s the timetable for the event:

So, I’ve got my glasses and information on how and when to wear them. Now, all I have to do is hope it won’t be too cloudy for us to see anything. The forecast today is for partially sunny skies. Let’s hope the clouds come after the event.

Come back tomorrow for the letter H and I’ll quickly tell you how my experience went.

Check out blog posts from other participants here: https://tinyurl.com/w54yupwe