2017 Week 34: (August 20-26)

The week many astronomers have been waiting for has finally arrived!  There will be a total solar eclipse occurring the morning of Monday August 21!  Let's get the boring stuff out of the way first.  As always the table below showcases what is happening in the sky for the upcoming week.

Date	Event
August 21	New Moon
August 21	Total Solar Eclipse
August 25	Jupiter 3°S of Moon
August 25	Saturn Stationary
August 26	Mercury Inferior Conjunction

Jupiter is starting to get low in the western sky after sunset.  It will be in conjunction with a beautiful waxing crescent Moon this Friday.  It will be a perfect night to take a walk along a ridge that has a great view of the western horizon.

The same night Saturn will finish its retrograde motion (westerly motion) and begin its prograde motion (easterly motion).  Mercury will be at inferior conjunction (between the Earth and Sun) with the Sun next Saturday and will appear in the early morning sky during the following weeks.  This leads up to the best morning apparition of Mercury on September 12.

Monday.  Solar Eclipse.

I had the opportunity to sit down with Global News this morning to discuss this great event.

http://globalnews.ca/video/3680329/watching-the-solar-eclipse-in-calgary

Links to my recent eclipse FAQ can be found below.

Solar Eclipse FAQ #1
Solar Eclipse FAQ #2


We will be downtown at Olympic Plaza with a solar filtered telescope and eclipse glasses.  Currently the Sun is sporting a great cluster of sunspots that will be on full display through the telescope.  Once we find a nice solid spot we will post the location to our Facebook page and Twitter feed.

A few quick facts!

• When viewing the eclipse from Calgary the Sun will be about 80% covered by the Moon.


• The next solar eclipse visible from Calgary will be on October 23, 2023 followed quickly by another on April 8, 2024.


• Mark August 22, 2044 in your calendar.  Calgary will be in the zone of totality and the Sun will be completely blocked by the Moon for 1 minute and 47 seconds.


• For this eclipse, hotels in the US have cancelled $99 rooms booked years in advance and forced people to re-book for more than a thousand dollars.  Rotten!


• I purchased eclipse glasses in April for 85¢ a pair.  I've seen retailers selling them for more than $50 this week.


• The totality for this eclipse will touch only one country -- The United States.  The last time the zone of totality only touched the continental US was July 29, 436 (1581 years ago)!


• The next total solar eclipse anywhere on Earth will be July 2, 2019.  The totality zone will sweep across the lower Pacific and cross into Chile and Argentina.  The zone will cross Chile about 500km North of Santiago and eventually hit the burbs of Buenos Aires about an hour later.  Book your tickets now!

The map below shows the viewing times across Canada.

Canadian Eclipse Map (Photo Credit: The Weather Network)

This will be an exciting event not to be missed.  I hope it inspires lots of kids(and grownups) to develop an interest in astronomy!