What to Look For
How do you know if your eclipse glasses or handheld solar viewers are truly safe? You need to know that they meet the ISO 12312-2 (sometimes written as ISO 12312-2:2015) international safety standard. Filters that are ISO 12312-2 compliant not only reduce visible sunlight to safe and comfortable levels but also block all but a tiny fraction of solar UV and IR radiation.
Unfortunately, you can’t check whether a filter meets the ISO standard yourself — doing so requires a specialized and expensive piece of laboratory equipment called a spectrophotometer that shines intense UV, visible, and IR light through the filter and measures how much gets through at each wavelength. Solar filter manufacturers send their products to specialized labs that are accredited to perform the tests necessary to verify compliance with the ISO 12312-2 safety specifications. Once they have the paperwork that documents their products as ISO-compliant, they can legitimately claim to meet the standard on their products and packaging.
Even more unfortunately, unscrupulous vendors can grab the ISO logo off the internet and put it on their products and packaging even if their eclipse glasses or viewers haven’t been properly tested. This means that just seeing the ISO logo or a label claiming ISO 12312-2 compliance isn’t good enough. You need to know that the product comes from a reputable manufacturer or one of their authorized dealers.
The AAS Solar Eclipse Task Force has been working diligently to compile a list of such vendors, now posted on our Suppliers of Safe Solar Filters & Viewerspage. We’ve checked companies’ ISO paperwork to make sure it’s complete and that it comes from a properly accredited testing facility, and we’ve personally examined many companies’ products. We’ve asked manufacturers, importers, and distributors to identify their authorized resellers, and we’ve asked dealers to identify the source of the products they’re selling. Only when everything checks out do we add a vendor to our listing.
Check out the glasses I’m going to be wearing purchased through my Amazon affiliate link:
TRUSTED BY MILLIONS – Soluna Glasses are made in the USA by NASA-approved manufacturer American Paper Optics, and are recognized as ISO-compliant by the American Astronomical Society. Join the millions of eclipse chasers that trusted Soluna Eclipse Glasses for the 2017 Total Solar Eclipse.
CE AND ISO CERTIFIED FOR DIRECT SUN VIEWING – Our eclipse glasses have been independently tested and verified by ICS Laboratories under the most current standard ISO 12312-2:2015(E) for filters for direct observation of the sun. You can watch the total solar eclipse with absolute confidence in your eye safety.
OPTIMIZED DESIGN – Soluna Glasses feature scratch-resistant Silver Polymer lens material with an optical density of 5 or greater. Our glasses filter 100% of harmful ultra-violet, 100% of harmful infrared, and 99.999% of intense visible light, offering both unparalleled safety and comfort for the best viewing experience.
Protect your eyes at all times!
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