There is a shortage of protective glasses in Britain ahead of the solar eclipse
In the United Kingdom, on the eve of Wednesday’s partial solar eclipse, special protective glasses are in short supply in stores and online. Some shoppers who managed to find the glasses online are being told that delivery won’t be until the end of the week, according to The Guardian World.
The Royal Observatory in Greenwich stated that it has sold out of all eclipse-viewing glasses—both online and in its stores. The observatory attributed this to an unprecedented number of orders. The observatory reminded the public that regular sunglasses are not safe for viewing the Sun.
For example, on Amazon, a set of Lunt glasses priced at 14.99 pounds was listed for delivery only on Thursday, August 13. On the Robert Dyas website, Bresser glasses priced at 2.99 pounds were marked as out of stock.
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Neill Sanders, founder of Go Stargazing and coordinator of Astronomers Without Borders in the UK, believes the problem lies not in a general shortage, but in the fact that many people failed to purchase them in advance. According to him, he imported 300,000 pairs of glasses from the U.S. and, over the past few weeks, has shipped 100,000 pairs to astronomy clubs and community groups at discounted prices. However, most of the remaining pairs will not arrive in time for the eclipse.
Jake Foster, an astronomer at the Royal Greenwich Observatory, noted that in the absence of special glasses, the eclipse can be observed indirectly. For example, a colander or a sheet of paper with a small hole can project an image of the eclipse onto a flat surface. He emphasized that one must not look directly at the Sun—instead, one should observe the shadow it casts.
Following the total solar eclipse in 1999, the Royal College of Ophthalmologists reported approximately 70 cases of vision impairment among people who had watched it. The UK Health Security Agency and the College have published recommendations on safe viewing glasses and alternative ways to observe the eclipse.
