Toronto buzzes with sky watchers who get 76% eclipse

The​ sky watchers in the Greater Toronto Area or GTA did not get a full-blown eclipse on Monday, but a three-quarters coverage provided them with a pretty good celestial show.

Md Asiuzzaman Torontobdnews24.com
Published : 21 August 2017, 08:46 PM
Updated : 21 August 2017, 08:46 PM

The eclipse in Toronto began at 1:10pm with its midpoint coming at 2:22pm and it ended at 3:49pm.

The maximum coverage was 76 percent, according to astronomers.

The University of Toronto arranged a free viewing event at the Canadian National Exhibition or CNE, where visitors gathered near the Better Living Centre from 10am to 5pm.

The Ontario Science Centre, along with the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, also set up a free viewing station outside the centre’s main entrance during the day.

The York Region Astronomy group hosted a viewing event outside the Richmond Hill Central Library.

In some places in Canada, the eclipse was 87 percent.

A man uses binoculars to watch a partial solar eclipse at the Canada Aviation and Space Museum in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, August 21, 2017. Reuters

The Canadian are excited that they will experience a total solar eclipse in 2024 which will cross the southern tips of Ontario and Quebec, central New Brunswick, western Prince Edward Island or PEI and central Newfoundland, officials from the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada confirmed.

Some people like Julia Knight got to the event grounds as early as 9:20am to guarantee a free pair of eclipse glasses.

"I hear they're selling online for 25 to 30 bucks," she told Toronto Star.

"This is all about sharing our passion for astronomy with the public and making this amazing celestial event as accessible as possible," said Mike Reid, one of the school's astronomers.

There were also telescopes on-site to let people get an up-close-and-personal view of the rare event.

"It's nice to be able to look into the telescopes and see things you don't usually see the sun, like the solar flares and the sun spots," said attendee Dawn Dell'Agnese.

Many attendees were seen creating their own eclipse viewers using old cereal and shoe boxes.

At the Ontario Science Centre, some people decided to skip work and school for the special event.

All outdoor pools remained closed during the peak of the eclipse, between 2:15pm and 3:45pm when the moon partially blocked the sun. Outdoor wading pools were also closed during that time.

The city of Toronto decided to close the pools during the solar eclipse citing safety concerns of low sunlight.

“We would appreciate participants' cooperation during this time and apologize in advance for any inconvenience,” said a City of Toronto alert.

Even though it was not a total eclipse, the pools were briefly shut down for the safety of the Torontonians who enjoyed the eclipse outdoors in different places.