Have you got your solar eclipse glasses sorted? This coming Saturday morning a solar eclipse will be visible across the U.S. and beyond, with the east coast of the U.S. seeing a slight partial eclipse and the west coast a huge chunk of the sun disappear behind the moon over the course of a few hours.

For those lucky enough to be inside a path 125 miles wide stretching from Oregon through Texas a “ring of fire” will be visible for a few minute. However, for everyone everywhere viewing this solar eclipse, solar protection glasses are essential at all times. You might even be able to get free solar eclipse glasses.

Do you know how to use them? You may think you do, but here are some expert tips to stay safe and comfortable during the multi-hour event:

Solar eclipse glasses are self-explanatory, right? A lot of people use solar eclipse glasses incorrectly. A surefire way to get confused is to put the solar eclipses glasses on your face and then strain your neck to look at the sky, trying to locate the eclipsed sun in the infinite sky. After all, the sun only occupies half a degree of the sky. It’s so small!

A much better way to use solar eclipse glasses is to:

“Cardboard eclipse glasses are designed so you can select the width for them so they'll hug the face a little bit easier,” says Dr. Ralph Chou, the world’s leading expert on eclipse eye safety who wrote the ISO standard for eclipse glasses, in an interview.

You’ll find a few pre-made scores in the cardboard between the frames and the arms, so you can alter the width. “Some people want a wider, others a narrower fit, so bend the glasses accordingly and then just park them on your ears—they should stay on for the time that you need,” said Chou. If you want to be extra-safe, hold the arms against your temples to secure them in place to prevent them from falling off.

Before a solar eclipse there can be a lot of worry about finding a pair of eclipse glasses for everyone in a group. It’s really not that important.

Contrary to popular belief, you don't actually need to wear solar eclipse glasses for the entire eclipse. In fact, they’re really only designed to allow you to take brief glimpses at the eclipse to watch the progress of the moon across the sun.

Nobody is going to stand there for more than a minute looking at the sun—it’s too painful on the back of the neck and, besides, you can’t see the change in real time. “If you look every few minutes, you can see that it's changing as the moon is moving across,” said Dr. Rick Feinberg, Project Manager, AAS Solar Eclipse Task Force at the American Astronomical Society, at a seminar on eclipse eye safety in June. “So as long as you’ve got one pair among a family or group of friends, you’re good—just pass them around and everybody can take a look every now and then.”

It might sound silly, but when spending a few hours looking at the sun every few minutes through a pair of solar eclipse glasses a lot of sun can get into your eyes, primarily as your lift and remove the glasses.

A great way of limiting that is to wear a peaked hat, typically a baseball cap or a sun hat, which can drastically reduce the problem.

I’m an expert on eclipses—the editor of WhenIsTheNextEclipse.com and author of The Complete Guide To The Great North American Eclipse of April 8, 2024. For the very latest on the “ring of fire” solar eclipse check my main feed for new articles each day this week.

Wishing you clear skies and wide eyes.