Hundreds of sky watchers headed to Coronation Park on Saturday morning.
Visitors to Telus World of Science Edmonton (TWOSE) observed the annular solar eclipse, sometimes referred to as the Ring of Fire, through special glasses and telescopes.
“When this type of solar eclipse occurs in a particular location, the moon’s disk becomes slightly smaller than the sun’s disk,” said Frank Florian, senior manager of planetarium and space science at TWOSE.
“That’s where you get the bright areas around the ring of fire and the silhouette of the moon,” he added. “Unfortunately, we can’t see it.”
Although the eclipse was visible across the Americas, Florian said only some people in the United States could see the ring of fire.
TWOSE visitor Daphne Chen said, “I would love to see more eclipses, but Mother Nature doesn’t argue.”
In Edmonton, people lined up from 9 a.m. to noon to watch the event through a telescope at the RASC Observatory near the Science Center.
“I love the excitement when kids walk up to the eyepiece and say, ‘Wow,'” Florian said.
“We’re here to engage the public and get them excited about something like this.
“Because nature is amazing and watching it unfold with a solar eclipse like this is a beautiful sight.”An annular solar eclipse as seen from Edmonton on Saturday, October 14th. (Amanda Anderson/CTV News Edmonton)
Other visitors enjoyed the eclipse using special glasses and telescopes brought in and shared by amateur astronomers.
“Many of the telescopes that people have brought out look very nice. Some of them are homemade telescopes, which are very impressive,” Yannick Letaileur said.
“It was pretty cool,” said Clare Tanner. “I remember seeing one of these through glass a few years ago, but looking through a telescope takes it to another level.”
Florian said Edmonton won’t see another annular solar eclipse in about 20 years, but local astronomy enthusiasts have a lot to look forward to.
“Now the sun is starting to become more and more active, and there are more and more active regions around the sunspots,” he said. “That means the sun spits out a lot of material…and that’s when we get these amazing aurora borealis.”
Several meteor showers are expected to occur in the coming months.
“If you’re out on a clear night, you might notice streaks of light or bright types of light streaking across the sky,” Florian says.
The Orionid meteor shower will peak on October 21st and 22nd, and the larger and more active Geminid meteor shower will appear on the night of December 14th.
A total solar eclipse will occur in April. However, you won’t see it unless you’re in Eastern Canada at the time.
“It’s going to be a big deal,” Florian said. “We’ve never seen so many total solar eclipses in Canada in our lifetimes. I remember there was a total solar eclipse in 1979, but you had to travel to Manitoba to see it. I had to.”
The next total solar eclipse visible from Edmonton and much of Alberta will occur on August 22, 2044.
“So it will be a few years before we see something really spectacular, where the moon blocks out the entire sun and you basically see a black hole in space,” Florian said.
CTV News With files from Edmonton’s Amanda Anderson
