SOLAR ECLIPSE IS HOT
Science Centre ready with events
It’s an event decades in the making. Monday residents of the Queen City will have the chance to view a partial solar eclipse.
“Eclipses are not something that happens all the time. The last solar eclipse that went all across the US was almost a hundred years ago,” said Jessica Bickford, marketing co-ordinator for the Saskatchewan Science Centre.
Monday will see parts of the United States experience a full solar eclipse while other places in North America, like Regina, will experience a partial solar eclipse, which is where the moon will cover 75 per cent of the sun.
“(A partial solar eclipse is) when the sun and the moon aren’t perfectly aligned from where we are on Earth. So only part of the sun is going to be hidden by the moon ... the sun is essentially going to look a little bit like a crescent moon at the height of the eclipse,” Bickford said.
The Saskatchewan Science Centre has a full day of events planned. Doors will open at 10 a.m. with the Science Centre handing out eclipse glasses with admission (limit of one pair per group). At 10:05 a.m. there will be a shortened version of the Science Centre’s space show shown. Everyone will head outside to watch the eclipse, which will run from 10:30 a.m. to 1:04 p.m. The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada Regina Centre will be on hand with telescopes fitted with special lenses to view the eclipse. Following the eclipse people will be able to draw the phases of it out.
The excitement around the eclipse has caused stores and online retailers to be sold out of eclipse glasses. Be careful looking at the event if you weren’t able to get a pair of the special glasses, because there is chance you could go blind, even wearing regular sunglasses. “On a normal day you don’t stare at the sun at all and it’s simply because you’ll damage the retinas of your eye. So even with this eclipse the sun will not be dark enough to be looked at with the naked eye,” said Gerry Hodges, volunteer with the Royal Astronomical Society Regina Centre.
Eclipse glasses are thousands of times darker than regular sun glasses and when used will make the sun orange coloured.
With the frenzy around purchasing eclipse glasses there have been some fakes sold. To check if yours are the real deal, Bickford said you can put them on and stare at a light. If you can see any light then the glasses are not actual eclipse glasses. “They’re meant to be disposable. Once you use them today, unless you’re going to keep them in a scrapbook or as a souvenir, you really shouldn’t be using them again. Because if they get scratched or damaged in any way they’re no good anymore,” Bickford said.
If you don’t have a pair of eclipse glasses and can’t make it down to the Science Centre there are ways to view the eclipse safely at home. You can make a pinhole projector, use a funnel or a kitchen colander. Simply hold it above the ground and then look down through the hole. You will be able to view the phases of eclipse as shadows on the ground.
So even with this eclipse the sun will not be dark enough to be looked at with the naked eye.