Total Solar Eclipse

Yesterday, April 8th 2024, we witnessed a once-in-a-lifetime event: a total solar eclipse in our area. They say it's been several hundred years since our city saw a total solar eclipse, and it won't happen again until the year 2399.

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Announcements were made weeks in advance, giving everyone time to prepare. The kids were given the day off of school, and Queen's University provided all students (and many adults) free solar eclipse glasses. Steve and I got our free pair at the public library a couple of weeks ago. Jessi's class also built eclipse viewers out of empty cereal boxes. There was a lot of excitement, but also some fear surrounding the event due to the risks involved in staring at the sun for too long. We were prepared!

The bright dot is the sun

The eclipse started at 2:09pm, with totality occurring between 3:22pm and 3:25pm. Then it was all over at 4:34pm. After a few minutes of being outside and seeing how cool it was, we decided to bring out our hammocks and hang out to watch. It was a beautiful day, albeit a little cloudy at times. We also felt a noticeable dip in the temperature as the sun disappeared!

The best way to describe what we saw through the glasses is: total darkness, save for a bright orange ball with clean lines and a growing black chunk out of it, reminiscent of a crescent moon. Something like this:

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Bring out the blankets!

I couldn't help but take a video just as the sun became completely covered. What a cool moment in history! The bang at the end of the video is the sound of fireworks. I guess someone thought the moment of totality was a fireworks-worthy event.

Episode 47: The Total Solar Eclipse

Safe to look at during totality

Above was the best picture I got of the total eclipse. The picture below was taken by the brother of a friend of a friend of Jessi's. Ha! Good pictures travelled quickly. 

The eclipse glasses worked great (thanks, Queen's U!) and we are so glad we were there to witness the moon's moment in the sun!