I’m not going to lie: several weeks later and I am still completely jealous of everyone who got to see the total eclipse that swept across the U.S. on August 21st. Yes, most of North America saw a partial eclipse of some sort. In Saskatoon, we saw the moon block about 70% of the sun. It was definitely an amazing spectacle but not the same as witnessing totality.  A total eclipse is often called one of nature’s most amazing spectacles. The sky gets darker and darker until finally, the moon completely blocks light from the sun. All you can see is the outer gas halo of the sun called the corona. The temperature drops, birds stop singing, and crickets start chirping. It’s described as both eerie and beautiful with the experience driving some to completely change their lives.

Despite not being in the path of totality (or having the opportunity to travel to the path of totality), I made sure to get the day off of work. I made my way to Diefenbaker Park to set up my telescope. My attempts to shoot the partial eclipse with my DSLR failed and I didn’t want to spend too much time fiddling with mounting it on my telescope as I had many people wanting to see it up close through the telescope so I resorted to using my cell phone held up to the eye piece. Unfortunately, that method doesn’t yield much detail. The gorgeous sunspots that were present that day I can only see on other people’s photos but at least I was able to document a little of the event from my end.