Packing cardboard pinhole projectors, sun-blocking glasses and, above all else, high expectations for a rare celestial event, Kelowna residents headed to the Curling Club parking lot in droves on Monday.
The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada held a solar eclipse viewing party at the site and were overwhelmed by the amount of community enthusiasm.
The event wasn91裸聊视频檛 scheduled to begin until 9 a.m., but people started lining up at 8 a.m. and within 45 minutes the supply of 400 eclipse viewing glasses had been snapped up. Over the next two hours, the crowd ballooned to nearly 1,000 men, women and children excited to look through the solar-ready telescopes that had been set up by the society.
91裸聊视频淧eople have been very impressed to see that moon go right across the sun,91裸聊视频� said Jim Tisdale of the Royal Astronomical Society, as he helped eclipse-curious kids and adults use his telescope.
91裸聊视频淲e heard lots of 91裸聊视频楢wesome. Wow. Never seen anything like this before.91裸聊视频�91裸聊视频�
For astronomy buffs, he said, it91裸聊视频檚 music to their ears.
91裸聊视频淲e spend a lot of time ourselves with our own telescopes, but when we hear from other people that they really enjoy it, it91裸聊视频檚 great,91裸聊视频� said Tisdale. 91裸聊视频淔or us this is what astronomy is all about 91裸聊视频� the outreach.91裸聊视频�
There were definitely a lot of people on site who had never previously experienced an eclipse. Many of them weren91裸聊视频檛 alive in 1979, which is the last time B.C. residents could see such a significant solar eclipse.
Jacob Bocskei, 10, said that he thought it was pretty cool.
Seeing a bite out of the sun looked a lot like something he91裸聊视频檇 seen in games he likes to play.
Maxine Wilson took all six of her grandchildren and their parents to the stargazing event.
91裸聊视频淚t91裸聊视频檚 a once in a lifetime event,91裸聊视频� she said. 91裸聊视频淚 wanted my family to see it.91裸聊视频�
Some were disappointed when they realized that the sky wasn91裸聊视频檛 going to be completely darkened, despite 83 per cent coverage from the moon.
That was until they got their hands on a pair of eclipse viewing glasses, then the awe kicked in.
UPDATE: 10:12 a.m.
Close to 1,000 people are gathered at the Kelowna Curling Club to try and get a glimpse of a rare astronomical event, an eclipse of the sun.
Jim Tisdale of the Royal Astronomical Society said they brought in some 400 pairs of special glasses needed to watch the eclipse without damaging your eyes and all of them were snapped up within 45 minutes this morning.
People began lining up at the curling club by 8 a.m. this morning.
The Capital News has a reporter and video crew on the scene. Watch our web site and Facebook page for updates, interviews and video.
Our reporter spoke with Andrew Bennett of the Royal Astronomical Society as well:
ORIGINAL:
The rare astronomical event that so many have been waiting for will get underway in just a few hours.
The sky will darken today as the moon moves between the sun and the earth for an eclipse of the sun, the likes of which hasn91裸聊视频檛 been seen in this part of the world since 1979.
If you want to observe it, however, you should have the right equipment on hand because solar eclipses are as dangerous as they are engaging.
91裸聊视频淲e want people to have a moment of pleasure, not a lifetime of regret,91裸聊视频� said Ken Tapping, an astronomer with the National Research Council of Canada91裸聊视频檚 Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory in the Okanagan.
91裸聊视频淭he trouble is that eclipses make the sun interesting. If you91裸聊视频檙e walking around, your eyeballs are moving all the time. But you can overcome this common sense when the sun becomes interesting, so people will stare at the sun.91裸聊视频�
A Kelowna optometrist is concerned that he91裸聊视频檚 going to see the negative side effects of just that phenomenon.
Dr. Paul Clark says if solar filter eyewear is not used 91裸聊视频渁bsolutely perfectly91裸聊视频� or if there is a manufacturing defect in solar filter glasses, it could result in permanent vision loss.
91裸聊视频淛ust like sunburn to the skin, the effects are not felt or noticed immediately,91裸聊视频� said Clark.
91裸聊视频淚 have a great fear that I will have patients in my office on Tuesday, Aug. 22, who woke up with hazy, blurry vision that I cannot fix.
91裸聊视频淭here is absolutely no safe way to watch the eclipse other than on television.91裸聊视频�
The eclipse on Aug. 21 is a total eclipse along a band about 100 kilometres wide that crosses the entire United States from the southeast to Oregon in the northwest, said Tapping.
Around 9:13 a.m., observers using the right equipment will see a little notch on the sun as the moon moves in front of it. By 10:25 a.m., close to 90 per cent of the sun will be covered by the moon. It will all be over at 11:42 a.m.
It91裸聊视频檚 as close to a total eclipse, where the entire sun is covered, that Canadians have seen since 1979. Only people in Oregon will see 100 per cent coverage of the sun.
In Kelowna the Okanagan Centre of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada is hosting a free public viewing event from 9 a.m. until noon at the Kelowna Curling Club. Approved solar eclipse glasses will be available for use, along with special solar eclipse telescopes.
