<blockquote>
  <p>if I had a pair of glasses, what would be the proper way of determining if they met ISO 12312-2 standards?</p>
</blockquote>

<p>The process involves a lot of lab equipment, calibrated sources of infrared, visible light, and ultraviolet, and calibrated detectors. Extremely unlikely you'll be able to whip something up in your garage.</p>

<p>Buy from vendors with good reputation; these are online stores that sell nothing but astronomy equipment, and they know what they're dealing with. If you're an astronomer, you know who those are. If you aren't, go on various astronomy forums and see which vendors people are recommending. Or see the AAS page for a list of vendors.</p>

<p>Amazon is now cracking down on bad eclipse glasses, but realistically speaking they are not an online store specializing in astronomy, so their product vetting may or may not be perfect.</p>

<p>It's getting a little late now, so better hurry up and get your eclipse glasses already.</p>

<p>You can always dash to the local welding supplies store and get a #14 welding glass. It's completely safe and passes the ISO standard. Maybe get the whole mask to go with it, so your face won't get sunburned.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-08-14T18:18:19.640Z
2017-08-14T18:43:44.453Z
2017-08-14T18:43:44.453Z
Florin Andrei
<p>Like many, we bought solar glasses to view the eclipse, and are now in a strange place where we can't tell if they're safe or not.  The big fuss seems to be about ISO 12312-2 compliance.  Apparently there are some glasses which are claiming to be certified and putting the logo in the glasses when they are, in fact, not up to spec.</p>

<p>Now the only "solution" that has been given is to buy from one of the "reputable" vendors <a href="https://eclipse.aas.org/resources/solar-filters" rel="nofollow noreferrer">documented by the AAS</a>.  Many smaller vendors are crying foul, saying the big guys are just trying to push out competition.</p>

<p>So my question is this: if I had a pair of glasses, what would be the <em>proper</em> way of determining if they met ISO 12312-2 standards?  Is there supposed to be a way for a customer to trace their purchase back and verify that the company that made them at least has their paperwork in order? (A company that has their paperwork and is still counterfeiting anyway is a different challenge).</p>

<p>Obviously the astronomy community is interested in ensuring their products are safe.  How were they supposed to do that in the ideal circumstances?  If I can't confirm their certification as a small-time buyer, how would a large-scale buyer of, say, 100,000 glasses or viewers determine that the product they are buying is genuine <em>before</em> someone burns their eyeballs?  Surely when there are hundreds of thousands of dollars on the line, there would be a process to demonstrate compliance.</p>

<p>EDIT: I am specifically looking for how one is supposed to verify these glasses without relying on a whitelist provided by a single group such as the AAS (other than perhaps the ISO community itself).  Surely there is a way to verify claims of ISO compliance without relying on the good intentions of a professional society.  Otherwise, what is the point of having certifications in the first place?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-08-13T23:14:51.960Z
Possible duplicate of [How to test direct sun viewing glasses](https://astronomy.stackexchange.com/questions/21822/how-to-test-direct-sun-viewing-glasses)
pacoverflow
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-08-14T01:09:57.910Z
@pacoverflow I added an edit.  I'm looking for the process that would be in place if you didn't have a society like the AAS creating their own whitelist of companies.  Surely there is a solution for problems like this when you don't have the AAS trying to step in and solve it.
Cort Ammon
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-08-14T02:10:27.390Z
I'm also not looking to test them.  I'm looking for a way that someone with the proper equipment has done the testing.
Cort Ammon
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-08-14T12:52:13.873Z
You might be out of luck on this. Testing it yourself is going to require equipment you likely don't have just lying around (but could probably buy if you're up for fronting the cost) and I doubt anyone out there is systematically testing every pair of glasses from every vendor to ensure they actually meet the standards like they say they do.
zephyr
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-08-14T14:23:11.883Z
@zephyr I don't expect systematic testing.  But it does seem like if I was a supplier that was undergoing proper testing of my products (testing samples, of course), there would be some meaningful way for me to advertise that I underwent this testing in a verifiable way (such as "here's the lab that gave me this certificate.  Go call them and confirm that they actually issued *me* this certificate.").  I'm finding it hard to believe that there's no way to follow a chain of certifications, but it indeed seems impossible to follow.
Cort Ammon
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-08-16T12:17:30.953Z
This whole issue is becoming a big cluster f*. Every day on the local news (Portland) there's another pair of eclipse glasses for recall that are stamped as certified when, in fact, they aren't. Nobody knows if their pair is legit anymore, regardless of what is printed on them. The AAS link in the OP is dead btw.
iMerchant
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-08-16T15:02:36.390Z
@iMerchant The link is working for me.  It might have been a temporary glitch on AAS.  Can you check it again for me?  If it's still dead for you, I'll investigate further into why it works for me (I may have a cached version or something)
Cort Ammon
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-08-16T15:06:01.947Z
Still not working. I also tried to go the AAS website via google/safari (instead of link in SE app), no dice. I don't think it's your link. I think the site is down for some reason.
iMerchant
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-08-16T15:29:13.560Z
@iMerchant I'll have to investigate and pin that down.  Thanks for the tip!
Cort Ammon
<solar-eclipse><standards>
How can I tell if my solar glasses are up to ISO standards?
Cort Ammon
# How can I tell if my solar glasses are up to ISO standards?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2017-08-13)

Like many, we bought solar glasses to view the eclipse, and are now in a strange place where we can't tell if they're safe or not. The big fuss seems to be about ISO 12312-2 compliance. Apparently there are some glasses which are claiming to be certified and putting the logo in the glasses when they are, in fact, not up to spec.

Now the only "solution" that has been given is to buy from one of the "reputable" vendors [documented by the AAS](https://eclipse.aas.org/resources/solar-filters). Many smaller vendors are crying foul, saying the big guys are just trying to push out competition.

So my question is this: if I had a pair of glasses, what would be the *proper* way of determining if they met ISO 12312-2 standards? Is there supposed to be a way for a customer to trace their purchase back and verify that the company that made them at least has their paperwork in order? (A company that has their paperwork and is still counterfeiting anyway is a different challenge).

Obviously the astronomy community is interested in ensuring their products are safe. How were they supposed to do that in the ideal circumstances? If I can't confirm their certification as a small-time buyer, how would a large-scale buyer of, say, 100,000 glasses or viewers determine that the product they are buying is genuine *before* someone burns their eyeballs? Surely when there are hundreds of thousands of dollars on the line, there would be a process to demonstrate compliance.

EDIT: I am specifically looking for how one is supposed to verify these glasses without relying on a whitelist provided by a single group such as the AAS (other than perhaps the ISO community itself). Surely there is a way to verify claims of ISO compliance without relying on the good intentions of a professional society. Otherwise, what is the point of having certifications in the first place?

**Tags:** solar-eclipse, standards

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Possible duplicate of [How to test direct sun viewing glasses](https://astronomy.stackexchange.com/questions/21822/how-to-test-direct-sun-viewing-glasses)  
> **username_0**: @username_1 I added an edit.  I'm looking for the process that would be in place if you didn't have a society like the AAS creating their own whitelist of companies.  Surely there is a solution for problems like this when you don't have the AAS trying to step in and solve it.  
> **username_0**: I'm also not looking to test them.  I'm looking for a way that someone with the proper equipment has done the testing.  
> **username_2**: You might be out of luck on this. Testing it yourself is going to require equipment you likely don't have just lying around (but could probably buy if you're up for fronting the cost) and I doubt anyone out there is systematically testing every pair of glasses from every vendor to ensure they actually meet the standards like they say they do.  
> **username_0**: @username_2 I don't expect systematic testing.  But it does seem like if I was a supplier that was undergoing proper testing of my products (testing samples, of course), there would be some meaningful way for me to advertise that I underwent this testing in a verifiable way (such as "here's the lab that gave me this certificate.  Go call them and confirm that they actually issued *me* this certificate.").  I'm finding it hard to believe that there's no way to follow a chain of certifications, but it indeed seems impossible to follow.  
> **username_3**: This whole issue is becoming a big cluster f*. Every day on the local news (Portland) there's another pair of eclipse glasses for recall that are stamped as certified when, in fact, they aren't. Nobody knows if their pair is legit anymore, regardless of what is printed on them. The AAS link in the OP is dead btw.  
> **username_0**: @username_3 The link is working for me.  It might have been a temporary glitch on AAS.  Can you check it again for me?  If it's still dead for you, I'll investigate further into why it works for me (I may have a cached version or something)  
> **username_3**: Still not working. I also tried to go the AAS website via google/safari (instead of link in SE app), no dice. I don't think it's your link. I think the site is down for some reason.  
> **username_0**: @username_3 I'll have to investigate and pin that down.  Thanks for the tip!  

---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_4 on 2017-08-14. Score: 1 | Accepted answer

> if I had a pair of glasses, what would be the proper way of determining if they met ISO 12312-2 standards?

The process involves a lot of lab equipment, calibrated sources of infrared, visible light, and ultraviolet, and calibrated detectors. Extremely unlikely you'll be able to whip something up in your garage.

Buy from vendors with good reputation; these are online stores that sell nothing but astronomy equipment, and they know what they're dealing with. If you're an astronomer, you know who those are. If you aren't, go on various astronomy forums and see which vendors people are recommending. Or see the AAS page for a list of vendors.

Amazon is now cracking down on bad eclipse glasses, but realistically speaking they are not an online store specializing in astronomy, so their product vetting may or may not be perfect.

It's getting a little late now, so better hurry up and get your eclipse glasses already.

You can always dash to the local welding supplies store and get a #14 welding glass. It's completely safe and passes the ISO standard. Maybe get the whole mask to go with it, so your face won't get sunburned.


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