Hamilton gearing up for partial solar eclipse Monday

HOW TO VIEW IT:

Hamilton residents will have two public viewing locations to safely see the partial solar eclipse on Monday afternoon — one on the Mountain and one at McMaster.

The Hamilton Amateur Astronomers Club is having a public solar eclipse viewing at T.B. McQuesten Park off Upper Wentworth Street using filtered telescopes.

“It’s a rare event,” says Ron Shields, a member of the Hamilton centre branch of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, who will be helping out the astronomers’ club that day.

There won’t be another eclipse in the area until April 2024, he adds.

McMaster University’s Sidewalk Astronomy group, made up of grad students, will have filtered telescopes, special eclipse glasses and pinhole cameras available for the public to safely view the partial eclipse. The students will also be there to answer questions. Start: 1:10 p.m. Peak: 2:32 p.m. End: 3:49 p.m.

Outside McMaster University Engineering Technology Building, facing Main Street West — Sidewalk Astronomy will provide safe-viewing equipment, including filtered telescopes and proper eclipse glasses. 11:30 a.m. — 4 p.m.

T.B. McQuesten Park, Upper Wentworth Street, on sidewalk opposite rec centre parking lot — the Hamilton Amateur Astronomers Club will provide filtered telescopes for safe viewing. 1 to 4 p.m. Don’t look at the sun directly without special equipment. Regular sunglasses, even very dark ones, or welder’s glasses or homemade filters offer no protection. The only safe way to look directly at the sun or partially eclipsed sun is through special-purpose solar filters such as eclipse glasses. The marketplace is being flooded by counterfeit eclipse glasses with some even labelled as if they were ISO-compliant, so be careful. The American Astronomical Society has a list of reputable vendors at eclipse.aas.org/eye-safety. NASA has a list of tips on how to safely use eclipse glasses, and solar filters on telescopes.

More at: eclipse2017.nasa.gov