THUNDER BAY – Despite Environment Canada calling for a 40 per cent chance of flurries or rain showers, locals are still hoping to witness the partial solar eclipse on Monday.
Jonathon Reid, environmental, ecological, and outdoor education specialist at Fort William Historical Park, said if the clouds completely obscure the eclipse, the park is still going to be offering educational programming.
“We're going to be talking about the eclipse. We're going to be showing off our fleet of telescopes that we use for solar viewing,” he said.
“We're going to have some of our Indigenous life people in our Indigenous life department here talking about Indigenous views of the sky and the sun especially, but also many other things. And we're also going to have many other science stations around the property that we're doing it on.”
If the sky clears in time for the eclipse, residents will be in store for quite a show, even though the region won’t get a full solar eclipse.
“Starting at about two o'clock, the moon is going to start covering up the sun and by about 10 after three on Monday, it's going to be at its max coverage, which is about 75 per cent of the sun that will be covered,” said Brendan Roy, first vice-president of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada.
“It's going to be basically a big crescent sun shape with the moon taking a big bite out of it. And then the whole show is over by four o'clock or just after four o'clock.”
Residents are reminded that staring at an eclipse can cause permanent damage to the eyes and are reminded to use the proper eye protection.
Eclipse viewing events will be held at Hillcrest park and Fort William Historical Park. The view of the total solar eclipse in southern Ontario can also be viewed on YouTube,
