Rob Coppola Senior Account Executive – Construction Insurance Practice Group View Bio

A once-in-a-generation total solar eclipse is happening on April 8, 2024, with the path of totality occurring across a large swath of North America, including Western and Central New York! Although a spectacular site, you’ll need to make sure you’re wearing proper eye protection to avoid injury.

Here are some tips and instructions for safe and fun viewing:

  • Although everyone in the U.S. will see at least a partial solar eclipse, only those within the path of totality will witness the sun’s face completely blocked by the moon’s shadow. To observe the sun safely, you must wear certified solar eclipse glasses. It is only safe to look at the sun without eye protection during this brief period of totality.
  • Note: If you are outside the path of totality, there is no time when it is safe to look directly at the sun without proper glasses.
  • Inspect your glasses before use. If they are scratched, punctured, or torn, discard them.
  • Supervise children to ensure they are properly protected.
  • If you normally wear glasses, you can put your eclipse glasses on over them.
  • Do not look at the uneclipsed sun through a camera, telescope, binoculars, or other optical viewer.
  • Make sure your glasses are safe to use and are not fake. You can do this a few ways:
    • Get your glasses from a reputable source. Click here for a list of reputable solar viewer vendors.
    • If you put your glasses on (indoors or outdoors) you should only be able to see very bright sources of light or the sun from a reflective surface like metal or water. If you can see anything else, the glasses are fake.
    • With glasses on, look at the sun for a fraction of a second. In that brief glance, you should be able to see the sun, but only as a round disk with mild brightness and possibly with a colored tint depending on the glasses filter.

Click here for more information about eye safety and the eclipse.