This text is taken from Courrier de l’ économique. Click here to subscribe.
Do you have your glasses to safely watch the April 8 solar eclipse? If the answer is no, don’t panic. Yes, the coveted glasses are going like hotcakes. But there should still be several options for obtaining it. The distribution of 57,500 ISO 12312-2 certified pairs will begin today in the 45 libraries of the City of Montreal.
Here’s what you should know and be wary of before getting or using them.
Specialty stores are overwhelmed
Since the return of the holidays, La maison de l’astronomie has sold 700 to 800 glasses per day for the solar eclipse, according to Henri-Julien Chartrand, director of the store located in the Villeray district. “The phone doesn’t ring,” he adds.
The store having been flooded by a quantity of online orders that employees were no longer able to process, you now have to go there to get your hands on a precious pair. Customers thus have the advantage of being able to test the glasses on demonstration before choosing the ones that suit them best. The price varies from $3 to $5 per pair.
The House of Astronomy is one of ten reliable suppliers according to the educational site Eclipsequebec.ca, a group of specialists in astronomy and popular science. Many of these stores were out of stock and had to reorder.
The Astro-Nature online store, which sells various equipment for observing stars and birds, is also part of this short list. However, you must have a good sense of timing to successfully order glasses. If the sale is only open sporadically, it is because the processing capacity of its small team, which packs everything by hand and sends it by post, quickly reaches its limit. The owner, Jean-Christophe Giney, wants to be sure he can honor the orders he takes.
“I opened the sale 30 minutes ago and I have already received 59 requests,” he emphasized in an interview with The duty. A few weeks ago, its server crashed, with 1,900 people visiting the glasses page at the same time.
Mr. Giney is exhausted from his long days, but satisfied with the work accomplished. “Sending a pair of glasses to someone who is on the other side of Quebec and who wouldn’t have access to them otherwise is fun, even if it’s waste. job “, he said on the phone.
Beware of scams!
Observation activities, during which free glasses will be distributed, will be organized throughout Quebec during the eclipse. You can find the list on Eclipsequebec.ca. Several municipalities will also provide them in public places such as libraries.
Many stores that are not on the list validated by Eclipsequebec.ca have also ordered glasses for the occasion. The duty spotted them for sale at photography experts, optometrists, university cooperatives and decoration stores. As long as they are well-established Canadian retailers and the glasses are ISO 12312-2 certified, there should be no problem, believes Jasmin Robert, general director of the Fédération des astronomers amateurs du Québec.
The latter, however, warns against glasses sold on Amazon and on resale sites like Marketplace, which are currently in abundance.
“For the general public, we do not recommend buying from Amazon, because people do not necessarily have the knowledge to know if what they are buying really complies with safety standards,” says Mr. Robert, calling for prudence. There are too many different products and resellers that we don’t know about. »
“Customers brought us glasses purchased on Amazon,” says Henri-Julien Chartrand. It is clear that some were not really certified, despite the ISO number which was indicated. The light penetrated. Some even had manufacturing defects. »
The American Astronomical Society also maintains a list of approved manufacturers and importers. If in doubt, a fairly simple test can be carried out, explains Mr. Chartrand. By holding them in front of your eyes in daylight, you’re not supposed to see anything, since they block over 99.9% of the sun’s rays. Otherwise, looking directly at the sun, even during an eclipse, carries the risk of retinal burns.
If you’re caught off guard as the eclipse approaches, the Discovering the Universe astronomy training resource explains how to create indirect observing methods.
Jasmin Robert encourages you not to shy away from your pleasure, since a total solar eclipse would be a “magical” event, which happens “once in a lifetime”. Unless you live until 2106 or travel elsewhere in the world to attend!