Students of the Mars Robotics Association designed eclipse-viewing glasses, which it plans to distribute to area elementary schools after fundraising to get 3,500 pairs of glasses.

A team member who is a graphic design student at Butler County Area Vocational-Technical School designed the glasses artwork, and custom printed glasses were produced from an American Astronomical Society’s reviewed supplier. Mars Robotics is also selling the martian eclipse-viewing glasses as a fundraiser.

The solar eclipse will take place April 8, and Pittsburgh will experience 97% totality. Students at elementary schools will just be getting dismissed from school at the peak blockage time of the eclipse, about 3:17 p.m.

For more information or to reach the Mars Robotics Association, contact Jeffrey Beckstead, president and mentor of the association, at 724-321-2579 or at Jeff.Beckstead@MarsRoboticsAssociation.org.