Eclipse glasses: Throw them out? Keep until '24? Or donate them?

Don’t throw out Monday’s eclipse glasses, said Peggy Hill, physics professor at Southeast Missouri State University.

As long as the glasses are rated to ISO requirement 12312-2, adopted in 2015, the glasses will not expire after three years, as some glasses state in their instructions.

Another total solar eclipse will be visible in the United States on April 8, 2024, and Cape Girardeau County will be in the center of the path of totality.

Eclipse glasses should state whether they are rated to that ISO requirement, Hill said.

Even so, some eclipse glasses that conform to the ISO requirement contain the outdated warning that still appears on some glasses.

“Keep them, put them in a safe place, don’t let them get scratched or punctured,” Hill said. “Take care of them, and they’ll be fine.”

Another option is to donate glasses to Astronomers Without Borders, a not-for-profit in Calabasas, California, which according to its website, will take donated glasses to schools in South America and Asia for eclipses set to occur there in 2019.

According to the company’s Facebook page, glasses may be sent to Explore Scientific, 1010 S. 48th St., Springdale, AR 72762, and more information is coming soon at its website, astronomerswithoutborders.org.

mniederkorn@semissourian.com

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