Eclipse 2017

What an incredible day!  The weather was perfect for witnessing this great event that won't be in our sky again until October 2023!

We left our home at 9:00 this morning and headed for Stephen Avenue Mall.  We unloaded the equipment and setup at the northwest corner of Olympic Plaza.  I would estimate more than a thousand people came to take a look through the telescope.

Amazing Turnout at Olympic Plaza

The Moon started to take a bite out of the Sun at 10:20 and the first glimpse took your breath away.  The Moon was actually moving in front of the Sun for a rare convergence!  A lot of people saw this part of the eclipse and tried to take photographs through the eyepiece with some success.

"The Sun looks like a crescent Moon!"

Just over an hour later the crowd had grown into an excited mob wanting to take in the peak of the eclipse.  80% coverage!

Peak Eclipse from Calgary

The world seemed a little darker and the shadows a little crisper.  Lots of people had their eyes safely to the sky and immersed themselves in the beauty our world can provide.

"It's such a cynical world it's nice to see the awe on people's faces"

The great part of the day was seeing many different people of different races, religion, sexual orientation and age collectively come together and share a moment of joy as they watched the eclipse together.  The world has seemed so full of hate and division that these moments are quite sublime.

"It looks like a fingernail!"

Many more people came to the telescope during the peak time of the eclipse.  You could cross your fingers and see the Moon taking a good chunk of of the Sun on the ground.

Eclipse through the Fingers

Some people even dragged out the colander from their kitchen to project many images of the eclipse onto a screen.

Colander Eclipse Projection

Many noticed the pattern made by the shadows of leaves on the ground was unique for the eclipse.

Eclipse Leaves

After the peak, the Moon started moving off the face of the Sun and prominent sunspots came into view through the telescope.  This region of solar activity was responsible for the aurora this past weekend.

Sunspots during the Eclipse

Many people had a chance to use the eclipse glasses to catch a filtered unmagnified view of the sight up in the sky.  A person who received glasses to view the eclipse indicated:

"That was probably the coolest swag I've ever had."

As the time got closer to 12:50 the feeling that we will not see this in Calgary for another 6 years set in!  Some people who were there from the beginning stayed until the end until the last poke of the Moon was seen on the Sun.  It was a quiet moment with an ethereal sadness permeating the crowd.

Final Moments of Eclipse

We stayed a few minutes past the end of the eclipse to take in the experience we had.  One final picture of the Sun was taken before we trekked back to the parking lot to head for lunch.

The Full Sun

We are looking forward to relaxing and seeing the success of our friends from the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada who traveled to the zone of totality.  The International Space Station even caught an image of the shadow on the surface of the Earth.  This stunning image is shown below.

Shadow of the Moon on Earth (Photo Credit: Twitter @Space_Station)

What a remarkable day.  Thank-you to all who came out to see this great event!  For information about upcoming free, kid friendly events follow us on Twitter and Facebook!  We will be hosting some star nights in South Calgary soon!

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