Philadelphia Prepares for Solar Eclipse

It’s the talk on everyone’s lips: the solar eclipse that’s happening later today. At 2:44 p.m. Monday will be the peak of the partial solar eclipse for those in the Philadelphia area. Just in case you didn’t know, an eclipse happens when the moon passes directly over the sun between the sun and the earth. This sort of thing doesn’t happen very often, so it’s generating a lot of excitement.

Today’s solar eclipse is generating plenty of excitement… and plenty of demanbd for eclipse glasses.

As you have undoubtedly heard, it is dangerous to look at the sun during a solar eclipse. It may not look like the sun is that bright, but the eclipse doesn’t protect you from the sun’s harmful rays. Therefore, if you want to look at it, you should check out NASA’s live feed of it on their website or get yourself some eclipse glasses. Unfortunately, a lot of people have had that latter thought, and word from the news is that Philadelphia stores are having a hard time keeping the glasses in stock.

ABC6 reported that the Philadelphia Zoo gift shop received a bit of a rush when word got out that they still had the glasses in stock on Friday. The zoo was overwhelmed by the turnout. Jerry Kelly of the Philadelphia Zoo said, “There’s a time sensitivity for people. They know it happens on Monday and it’s only this one time. It’s neat. You see again, its ringing off the hook.”

At some places, like the Franklin Institute, glasses purchases were limited. Each person could buy only five, they mandated in the interest of fairness. Most places sold out quickly as soon as word got out that they had the glasses in stock. According to ABC6: “Other places, like the 7-Eleven store at Woodbourne and Trenton Road in Levittown, had a few dozen glasses, but when someone posted about it on our 6abc Facebook page the glasses were sold out within about an hour!”

Demand for the glasses was driving up prices online, where costs ranged from a few bucks to over a thousand dollars.