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What Should You Do With Your Eclipse Glasses?

Monday, August 21st saw more than a million people flock from Colorado to Wyoming with an estimated 536,000 extra vehicles on the road all to experience the total solar eclipse.
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The ‘Diamond ring’ effect as the sun reappears from behind the moon and Mercury can just be seen to the left – image captured in Wyoming (Lizzy Rogers/Longmont Observer)

This content was originally published by the Longmont Observer and is licensed under a Creative Commons license.

Monday, August 21st saw more than a million people flock from Colorado to Wyoming with an estimated 536,000 extra vehicles on the road all to experience the total solar eclipse. Many chose to avoid the average 12-hour trip back home and stayed in Longmont using special eclipse glasses to witness the event at 95% totality instead.

If like many Coloradan you enjoyed a breathtaking but safe view of the solar eclipse you may now be wondering what to do with your viewing glasses? You could hang on to them till the next total eclipse which happens to be passing right over Colorado, but what are the chances you'll remember where you put those glasses in 2045?

Maybe a more sensible option would be to donate them to a charity called Astronomers Without Borders (AWB). The organization has launched a program to collect the glasses which will be distributed to schools in South America and Asia where an eclipse will be passing over their continents in 2019, a bit less time to wait for them. There are a few places around Longmont and beyond collecting on behalf of AWB such as Seagate and McGuckin Hardware in Boulder but possibly one of the easiest places for Longmont locals to drop them off is the Longmont Public Library, where they have a collection box in the West Lobby.

Schools in the St. Vrain Valley district are also collecting the glasses on behalf of AWB. They have donation boxes at all the St. Vrain buildings including the district offices. Michael O'Toole, K-12 Science Coordinator for the district told the Longmont Observer that as soon as the schools purchased the glasses they were already looking for a solution for what to do with them after the event. When they heard about Astronomers Without Borders they knew it would be a great opportunity.

The Longmont Observer team would love to hear about your experiences of the eclipse. Share your comments and photos below.

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