By Lara Fominoff @fomsy1 on Twitter

Watch Monday’s solar eclipse if you can, says professor- next one visible in Lethbridge in 2044

Aug 18, 2017 | 9:10 AM

LETHBRIDGE – There’s a lot of excitement throughout North America, ahead of Monday’s solar eclipse (August 21). And that of course, includes the Lethbridge area.

University of Lethbridge Experimental Astro-Physics Assistant Professor Dr. Locke Spencer, says if you can, try to take in this one- because the next one that will be visible in southern Alberta will be in 27 years, in 2044.

“We’ll expect about 81 per cent of the sunlight to be blocked,” he says. “So it’ll be a fifth of the brightness that we’d normally get from the sun at that time of day. It will be noticeable, certainly.”

Spencer says not only will it look really interesting, but it will be a very rare opportunity for scientists to do some important work.

“The main reason to look at the eclipse is that it’s the best possible vantage point we have to study the lower corona of the sun. The corona is like the atmosphere of the sun. Any experiment that’s man made that tries to block out the sun, it’s really difficult to get things set up to see that lower air. The sun’s surface is about 6000 degrees, and if you measure the temperature of the corona, it can get into the thousands or almost millions of degrees.

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“Another interesting thing I realized is that Mercury is hard to image. So one of the NASA projects is going to be taking some thermal images of Mercury that they can actually see, because the sun isn’t blinding them.”

And if you are planning on looking at the eclipse?

“Please do NOT look directly at the sun. You can go and get some eclipse viewing glasses in town. Probably some of the toy stores. Another option is welder’s goggles, although you want to make sure it’s the right grade. Don’t wreck your eyes.

“Another really simple thing you a do, rather than stare at the sun… you can actually look at the shadow. So if you have a card or a paper plate, put a pinhole in it, and then you can look at the shadow that it casts, and you can see the shape of the moon as it crosses in front of the sun.”

The last solar eclipse that travelled across North America took place in 1979. This one, Spencer says, will begin when the moon starts to travel across the sun around 10:20 a.m.

“It’ll take about an hour until it gets to its peak. So the largest amount of the sun blocked in Lethbridge will be about 81 per cent… and that’ll be about 11:34 in the morning. And then the eclipse will gradually end, where the moon will be leaving its position in front of the sun, at 12:53 p.m.”

He says if the weather holds out, we’ll notice it gradually get darker, not unlike when the sun sets in the evening.

“But it will become brighter again, just after lunch.”

For those who aren’t able to get their hands on some eclipse glasses, here’s a link to the Canadian Association of Optometrists, and to the Canadian Space Agency, to make sure you keep your eyes safe. The links also have information on how to make a pinhole camera.

http://opto.ca/health-library/solar-eclipse-safety

http://www.asc-csa.gc.ca/eng/astronomy/eclipses.asp?utm_source=website&utm_medium=banner_img&utm_campaign=eclipse&utm_content=home_page