Free solar eclipse viewing glasses while they last

KMSP - CORRECTION:  There appears to be some confusion on who can actually receive these free glasses as some of the library branches are holding their storage from NASA ONLY for those participating in eclipse related events on the day of the eclipse itself, which is Monday, August 21.  For complete details on the possible free glasses, you should visit your local libraries website for further details.  I apologize for any confusion this may have caused...

ORIGINAL STORY:

There are many different ways to view our upcoming total solar eclipse, even here in Minnesota.  One of the most popular ways will be through solar eclipse glasses, which uses a filtering mechanism over the glasses to filter out 99.9% of the sun’s harmful rays.  While not usually expensive, typically just a couple bucks for the paper ones, we are so close to the event that they are becoming harder to find and more expensive once you find them.  At last check, Amazon had 4 packs for over 40 dollars and the plastic “fancy” glasses are going for 50 bucks a pop (when I got mine for 12 dollars 3 months ago).  But there is a way you can get some for free.

Thanks to a grant from NASA, nearly 7000 libraries across the country are giving away some of these glasses for free.  There is no information on how many each library received, but there are several of the selected libraries in and around the metro and roughly 2 dozen statewide.  There is a map of these libraries here…

http://spacescience.org/software/libraries/map.php

Happy hunting!