List Of Legit Glasses/Filters For Eclipse Viewing

By AC

If you're going to take advantage of this "Once In A Lifetime" celestial event, you might as well do it right! A rare event usually opens up opportunity for scammers. The last thing you need is to be scammed to have your eyes burnt off. Solar eclipse glasses and filters for cameras, etc are now being sold in the market in preparation of the Great American Solar Eclipse. However, you will run into the risk of product that are not approved by NASA and/or doesn't meet specifications. 

However, I give you peace of mind knowing you and your family's eyes will be safe and sound by purchasing reputable eclipse glasses and filters provided by certified and NASA approved product. READ BELOW for all valid eclipse viewing product.

"Eclipse Glasses" & Handheld Viewers

The following well-known telescope and solar-filter companies manufacture and/or sell eclipse glasses (sometimes called eclipse shades) and/or handheld solar viewers that have been verified by an accredited testing laboratory to meet the ISO 12312-2 international safety standard for such products. They are listed in alphabetical order; those with an asterisk (*) are based outside the United States.

Solar Filter Brands

Note: Baader Planetarium's AstroSolar Safety Film and AstroSolar Photo Film, sold in the U.S. by Alpine Astronomical and Astro-Physics (see below), are not certified to meet the ISO 12312-2 international safety standard and are not designed to work as eclipse shades or handheld solar filters. Baader's AstroSolar Silver/Gold Film, on the other hand, does meet the ISO 12312-2 safety standard for filters for eyes-only direct viewing of the Sun.

Numerous other astronomy- and science-related enterprises and organizations sell eclipse glasses made by the companies listed above. If you buy from any of these businesses, you know you are getting ISO-compliant safe solar viewers.

Astronomy, Science & Optics Vendors

Some (not all) locations in the following retail chains sell ISO-compliant safe eclipse glasses and/or handheld viewers made by the companies listed at the top of this page, so you can confidently buy solar viewers if you find them on their websites or in their stores.

Retail Chains

Here are some additional sellers of ISO-compliant safe solar viewers made by the companies listed at the top of this page. Some of these have storefronts on Amazon.com, where there are also numerous sellers of solar viewers that we have not been able to confirm are safe (though Amazon appears to be making a good-faith effort to remove such vendors and products from its website). We recommend that you buy only from companies listed on this page.

Online & Other Vendors

FREE eclipse glasses from libraries: With support from Google and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the Space Science Institute's STAR_Net initiative has distributed more than 2 million ISO-compliant safe solar eclipse glasses to libraries all across the U.S. To find out which libraries near you are holding eclipse-related events and distributing free eclipse glasses, see the library map on the STAR_Net website.

FREE eclipse glasses from Astronomers Without Borders: The August 21st eclipse will be visible throughout the U.S., but many schools and other organizations in underserved communities and remote areas can't afford to purchase safe eclipse glasses. Astronomers Without Borders is giving away ISO-compliant safe solar eclipse glasses to needy groups willing and able to pay the cost of shipping and seeks donations to offset the cost of the glasses.

Other sources: What if you received eclipse glasses or a handheld solar viewer from a relative, friend, neighbor, or acquaintance? If that person is an amateur or professional astronomer — and astronomers have been handing out eclipse viewers like Halloween candy lately — they're almost certainly ISO-compliant, because astronomers get their solar filters from sources they know and trust (in other words, from the ones listed on this page). Ditto for professional astronomical organizations (including college and university physics and astronomy departments) and amateur-astronomy clubs.

If you bought or were given eclipse viewers at a science museum or planetarium, or at an astronomy trade show, again you're almost certainly in possession of ISO-compliant filters. As long as you can trace your filters to a reputable vendor or other reliable source, and as long as they have the ISO logo and a statement attesting to their ISO 12312-2 compliance, you should have nothing to worry about. What you absolutely should not do is search for eclipse glasses on the internet and buy whatever pops up in the ads or search results. Buy from one of sources listed here instead.

Be sure to read our safety tips before using "eclipse glasses" or handheld viewers, and see "How to Tell If Your Eclipse Glasses or Handheld Solar Viewers Are Safe" for additional important information.

Solar Filters for Telescopes, Binoculars & Camera Lenses

Solar filters for optics are meant to go over the aperture, i.e., the front opening, and should be used only by experienced observers. Four of the sources listed below — Alpine Astronomical, Astro-Physics, Baader Planeterium, and Kendrick Astro Instruments — sell aperture filters made from Baader AstroSolar Safety Film. While this material, unlike the newer AstroSolar Silver/Gold Film (see above), does not meet the ISO 12312-2 international safety standard for eyes-only direct viewing of the Sun — it transmits slightly more ultraviolet light than the standard allows — it has been safely used by amateur and professional astronomers for several decades for observing and/or imaging the Sun through telescopes, binoculars, and camera lenses (whose glass elements filter out the excess ultraviolet light).

Orion sells a variety of aperture filters, including some made with Baader AstroSolar film and some made with black or silver-black polymer, the same ISO-compliant materials used by other manufacturers in their eclipse glasses and handheld solar viewers. One of those manufacturers, Rainbow Symphony, also makes aperture filters for small telescopes, binoculars, and camera lenses. Celestron uses the same ISO-compliant materials in their aperture filters as in their eclipse glasses. DayStar's small-aperture filters are made by American Paper Optics using Thousand Oaks Optical's silver-black polymer. Thousand Oaks Optical makes and sells three kinds of aperture solar filters for binoculars and telescopes: silver-black polymer, SolarLite aluminized polyester, and metal-coated glass.

Many of the astronomy- and science-related enterprises and organizations listed above, as well as others that advertise in magazines such as Astronomy and Sky & Telescope, sell solar filters from one or more of the manufacturers named here. As long as you know what brand you're getting and that brand is listed on this page, you should be OK.

To find telescopes and binoculars specially made for observing the Sun, see the Special-Purpose Solar Binoculars & Telescopes section of our Telescopes & Binoculars page.

Be sure to read our safety tips before using solar filters with any optical device!

Solar Optical Projectors

The following devices are used for indirect solar observation. They use lenses and mirrors to project an image of the Sun onto a white surface. In other words, you don't look through them — you look at them.

Be sure to read our safety tips before using a solar optical projector!

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