There goes the sun Sun, moon and Earth will line up perfectly Monday, turning day into night for a few wondrous minutes
I think the effect will be similar to that of a dark winter’s day Royal Astronomical Society of Canada’s David Hawkins
The Okanagan Weekend
It will be like the calendar has flipped forward six months in Kelowna on Monday morning. Or backwards, 139 years and 23 days. A partial solar eclipse, in which 83 per cent of the sun is obscured by the moon, will turn a bright summer’s morning into a dim winter-like afternoon, an amateur astronomer says.
“I think the effect will be similar to that of a dark winter’s day,” David Hawkins, president of the Okanagan Centre branch of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, said on Wednesday.
The sun is so bright that, even with 83 per cent of it blocked during the height of the eclipse, there will still be a fair amount of daylight outdoors, Hawkins said.
From Kelowna, the moon will begin to block the sun at 9:13 a.m., with maximum coverage lasting for two minutes beginning at 10:25 a.m. The eclipse will end at 11:42 a.m.
A total solar eclipse visible from some place on earth happens about every 18 months. But for any specific place on earth, a total solar eclipse is visible only once every 375 years, according to Space.com
The last total solar eclipse that would have been visible in what is now Kelowna occurred on July 29,1878, Hawkins says.
That was 20 years after the region’s first European settler, Father Charles Pandosy arrived to establish a mission, and 27 years before the City of Kelowna was incorporated.
For his part, Hawkins is heading down to Oregon to see the total solar eclipse on Monday, along with several hundred thousand other expected tourists. He booked a room in Madras, Ore., a year ago for US $300, a reservation that was subsequently cancelled by motel management, perhaps when they realized they could rent it out for far more.
Hawkins was able to get another room in Port Hood, Ore., which is about two hours from Madras, where eclipse viewing conditions are expected to be ideal.
“It’ll be a bit of a drive, to see the eclipse, but I’m sure it’ll be worth it,” he said.
— The Okanagan Centre branch of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada is hosting a free public viewing of the partial solar eclipse, from 9 a.m.-noon, at the Kelowna Curling Club, 551 Recreation Ave. Approved solar eclipse glasses will be available for use, along with special solar eclipse telescopes.