New Yorkers Gear Up For Total Solar Eclipse; Glasses Going Fast
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – New Yorkers can hardly wait for the historic total solar eclipse Monday.
"This is an amazing, amazing event. For New Yorkers, we will see approximately a 70 percent eclipse," Jason Kendall, with the Amateur Astronomer's Association of New York, told WCBS 880's Marla Diamond.
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The Museum of Natural History on the Upper West Side plans to host a viewing party, where 1,000 special glasses will be available.
"We'll have a telescope outside with proper filters for you to look, and we're going to have inside science educators that will be on the floor to explain what's going on," astronomer Jackie Faherty said.
If you're planning to buy glasses on your own, you may be running out of time. Many stores have already sold out, 1010 WINS' Holli Haerr reports.
"I tried almost 10 different stores. They were all sold out," Angel Williams, of Brooklyn, said.
She eventually found some at B&H Photo and Video on Lexington & 34th Street.
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The glasses don't look like much. They're made out of paper and plastic. But B&H technical writer Christopher Witt says they'll protect your eyes when you look at the eclipse.
"You only have two eyes, and we want to make sure that you see as well on Tuesday as you did on Sunday," he told Haerr.
B&H recommends checking their website before heading there, in case they run out.
The eclipse will start at 1:23 p.m. in New York City and end at 4 p.m. with the peak viewing time at 2:44 p.m.
