Brian Mould runs the astronomy program at Haliburton Forest. While his eclipse chaser friends are headed to Mexico, he’s off to the Belleville-Kingston area.
He said while there is the possibility of two solar eclipses a year, total solar eclipses are rarer, especially the 100-kilometre-wide moon shadow racing across the planet for a short piece. “So, you want to pick your spots to be right in that moon shadow for that totality experience.”
He said the key is being mobile in case it’s cloudy in one area, but clear in another.
Mould added Highlanders are still going to get a great show, with 97 per cent partial, “that’s pretty dark.” He reminded locals they cannot look at the sun without eclipse protection. He added there are lots of things to do, like pinhole projections, poking a hole in a piece of cardboard and projecting the spot of light onto the ground, a wall, or piece of paper as, “it will project the image of the sun with the crescent shape.” Others use pasta colanders for interesting imagery.
“It’s a great opportunity to teach kids, or teach anybody about it.” He added he understands why the school board decided to make it a day off for kids since it would be difficult to ensure children did not look at the sun without protection.
Astronomer really excited
Mould said the fascination stems from the “primordial fear” reaction to the darkness, as well as the fact it’s, “the only chance you get to see the outer atmosphere of the sun.
“If you’re in the path of totality for that little minute or two, you can take your glasses off, you can take the filters off the telescope, you can look at it with binoculars, and you will see the disk of that moon blocking the sun. The atmosphere of the sun is the corona and it stretches for millions of kilometres out into space and that’s the only time you get to see it is when the sun is blocked.”
Mould said he cannot afford to chase eclipses across the globe, like some of his friends, but this one is close and within driving distance. “This may, or may not, be my only actual total eclipse that I get to see.” He’ll bring solar glasses, binoculars, two telescopes, cardboard with pinholes and the words ‘Eclipse 2024’. “I’m just going to play with the light.
“I’m getting really excited now because the weather is starting to look better. This will be my first one. Really looking forward to it. Really hoping for totality. I want to see that outer corona of the sun, then I’ll feel like an astronomer from centuries ago. For most people, this will be a once in a lifetime thing.”
