Yesterday evening, I had the opportunity to observe the annular eclipse. Unfortunately, from Saskatoon, this eclipse was only going to be a partial eclipse as we were not located in the path of the eclipse but a partial eclipse is still a very impressive sight!
I could have set up with the rest of the local astronomers at Diefenbaker Park however, as I was feeling a bit ruminative, I decided to head out on my own (okay, I wasn’t completely alone since my mom came and we were later joined by a friend and his adorable daughter). I set up in the field between the Lutheran Seminary and the Diefenbaker Centre at the university where I had a beautiful western view of the South Saskatchewan river as well as a good view of the horizon. From this location, the very end of the eclipse was supposed to occur at sunset so having as much of a view of the Western horizon was important.
The first contact occurred at 6:07pm. I was running a bit late with my set up but a few minutes later, I had my little Celestron Powerseeker 127 set up with my homemade solar filter on top (I got the Mylar film from the RASC – ‘home made’ refers to the ring that fixes the filter to the telescope, not the film itself!) and I quickly saw the Moon taking a small ‘bite’ of the Sun. The Sun was marked with three very visible regions of sunspots. Little by little, I watch some of those marks disappear, hidden away from us by the Moon.
As this was only to be a partial eclipse for us, it was estimated that about 60% of the Sun would be covered by the peak which occurred at 7:12pm. Unfortunately, as I watched the Moon slowly move away from the Sun, the clouds rolled in. Some cloud cover is okay for viewing; not great but you can still see through the sheerness and view the powerful rays from the Sun. However, it didn’t take long before the clouds got too thick to see. Without any signs that they would go away and with the cooler air and mosquitoes making their appearance as well, at around 7:45pm, we decided to pack everything up and head home.
It would have bee nice to see more. In fact, it would’ve been nice to have seen the full annular eclipse! A total eclipse of the Sun occurs when the Moon is in the front of the Sun at such a distance that the Moon completely hides the Sun. However, an annular eclipse is slightly different. The Moon isn’t quite close enough to cover the entire Sun’s appearance so the Moon ends up looking a bit smaller and a ‘ring of fire’ appears around the Moon; almost like the Sun is trying to peak around the Moon! Perhaps, one year I’ll have the chance to travel somewhere around the world to observe an eclipse from a point of totality but for now, I’m happy with what I saw! Next up: transit of Venus on June 5th!
