Mississippians will get the chance to experience a once in a life time phenomenon.
A Solar Eclipse will be visible in some parts of Mississippi and astronomers say it’s important to make sure that everyone is properly prepared for the event by getting Eclipse safety glasses. However, experts caution saying to buy ones that work.
“There have already been a few reports of counterfeit glasses out there,” said Dr. Angelle Tanner, Associate Professor of Astronomy at Mississippi State University.
While a recent nationwide recall of multiple brands of eclipse viewing glasses prompted the Mississippi Agricultural Museum to cancel their eclipse viewing event, Tanner said there are some tips to figure out whether glasses are real or counterfeit.
“Basically you should not be able to see anything like normal lamps or anything else in the glasses when you put them on,” said Tanner. “If you look up to the sun, you should just see a yellow disc. A very faint version of the sun that should not hurt your eyes. If you hold it up and it still hurts your eyes then they are not good glasses.”
Tanner said that while there are some things at home that people might be able to use instead of the glasses, mylar balloons and CD’s do not work as they do not properly protect the eye.
However, Tanner added that if there is a welder in the family, people can use shade 14 welding glasses to enable them to view the eclipse directly.
With some people coming from across the world to see the eclipse, Tanner said to get as close as possible to totality.
“The closer that you are to the totality line, the more coverage you get and if you are in totality then it’s really magical and they say that if you are only a few miles away from totality, then you should definitely make the effort to get to totality,” said Tanner.
Tanner added that it is important to make plans quickly.
“Millions of people are going to be travelling toward the totality line in the days and hours leading up to the event, so if you do want to make last minute plans, you should try to find someone who lives there, a sofa you can sleep on or a bed you can sleep on in the totality line, because I keep on telling people you want to wake up in totality,” said Tanner.
The point of totality is in Nashville, Tennessee.
