On Monday, Aug. 21, North America will be treated to a solar eclipse.
Along the path of totality, people will experience one of nature’s most awe-inspiring sights – a total solar eclipse. The path of totality, where the moon completely covers the sun and the sun’s corona can be seen, makes landfall in Oregon and proceeds eastward along a narrow path to the east coast of South Carolina.
Observers in Canada won’t experience the total eclipse but they will still witness the moon masking a portion of the sun – a partial eclipse. Here on the Sunshine Coast the partial eclipse means that the moon will eventually hide approximately 86 per cent of the sun’s disk. The eclipse process will start at 9:10 a.m. and will end at 11:37 a.m. with the maximum eclipse occurring at 10:21 a.m.
Safety warning! The only safe way to look directly at even the partially eclipsed sun is through special-purpose solar filters such as eclipse glasses or through special hand-held solar viewers. Homemade filters or ordinary sunglasses, even very dark ones, are not safe for looking at the sun.
On the day of the eclipse, the Sunshine Coast Royal Astronomical Society of Canada Centre is planning a safe public observing session on the seawall at Davis Bay starting at 8:30 a.m. There will be club members on hand with solar telescopes, binoculars and filters available for everyone to safely observe this special event.
It has been 38 years since the last one and it will be seven years until the next one.
Note: in case of cloudy weather, the eclipse may not be visible. Check the centre’s website on the day of the eclipse to see if it is a go: www.coastastronomy.ca.
– Submitted by Michael Bradley
