Half of Scotland is asking the same question today. Here's the honest answer:
it's too late for online orders — but there are free certified glasses at events tonight,
and a completely safe viewer you can make in two minutes.
First, the hard rule. Only glasses marked ISO 12312-2 (printed
on the frame) are safe for looking at the Sun. Sunglasses, smoked glass, CDs, phone screens and
camera filters are not — a 91% eclipse is still full-strength sunlight, and eye damage is
painless and permanent. No code on the frame, don't use them.
Fix 1 — free certified glasses tonight
Astronomy clubs and venues across Scotland are handing out certified glasses at tonight's
viewing events. Closest to Glasgow first:
Red Burn Farm, Blantyre
From 6pm · CERTIFIED GLASSES FREE
Whitelee Windfarm Visitor Centre, Eaglesham
Guided viewing walks to Blackwood Hill
Calton Hill & Arthur's Seat, Edinburgh
Astronomical Society of Edinburgh · telescopes too · FREE GLASSES
Mills Observatory & Broughty Castle, Dundee
Open till 8:30pm · certified glasses to buy
Glasgow — informal gatherings
Necropolis, Queen's Park, Cathkin Braes — bring your own viewing method
Listings via STV News — numbers are limited and events can change, so arrive
early and don't travel far on the promise of a free pair. In-person last resorts: telescope
shops and some opticians stock ISO 12312-2 viewers — phone before you go.
Fix 2 — make a safe viewer in two minutes
The pinhole projector
You never look at the Sun at all — you look at its projection, which is completely
safe, and during the deep eclipse the projected image becomes a thin crescent. Kids can make it
and kids love it.
Take two pieces of card (cereal box works).
Pierce a small round hole in one with a pin.
Stand with your back to the Sun. Hold the pinhole card up over your shoulder.
Let the sunlight pass through the hole onto the second card — there's the Sun, as a
little disc of light. Tonight from 18:08 it becomes a bite, then a crescent.
Even lazier: a kitchen colander projects dozens of crescents at once. And any leafy
tree does it for free — the gaps between leaves are natural pinholes, and the pavement
underneath fills with crescents. That's the photo everyone remembers.
The print button gives you an A4 template — pierce the marked dot, follow the
printed steps. Make one per kid, they get very possessive.
Eclipse tonight: 18:08 – 20:01. Deepest around 19:05. This sheet lets you watch it
with your back to the Sun — completely safe, no glasses needed.
pierce this circle once with a pin
How to use it:
Pierce the marked circle once with a pin or sharp pencil. Small and round beats big and ragged.
Cut the sheet in half — the half with the hole is your projector, the blank half is your screen.
Stand with your BACK to the Sun. Never look at the Sun directly.
Hold the pinhole half up over your shoulder, and catch the spot of light on the blank half.
That spot IS the Sun. From 18:08 watch a bite appear; by 19:05 it's a thin crescent.
Move the sheets further apart for a bigger (dimmer) image. A leafy tree does the same trick —
look at the ground underneath it during the eclipse.
Your street's exact times, a voice guide, and a clear-sky finder:
comiccoder23.github.io/lookup — free, no app store. Safe viewing: only ISO 12312-2
glasses are safe for direct viewing; sunglasses never are.