By Roger White

Locals marvel at solar eclipse

Aug 22, 2017 | 10:04 AM

Whether it was online or in the great outdoors, thousands of Battleford and Meadow Lake residents witnessed the first solar eclipse seen in Canada since 2014.

The partial solar eclipse which covered 75 to 80 per cent of the moon began Monday morning at 10:26 a.m. and finished at roughly 12:57 p.m. The closest the moon got to the sun or the maximum coverage was at 11:41 a.m.

meadowlakeNOW and battlefordsNOW together with NASA provided live online coverage of the event for those who were unable to leave work to view the phenomenon.

“We had over 5,000 people viewing our online coverage on both websites,” news director Colin McGarrigle said. “We know a lot of people were unable to get outside to view the eclipse and we were happy to provide this to our readers.”

McGarrigle added the technology used to cover the event was mindboggling. It included three NASA aircraft, 11 spacecraft, dozens of high-altitude balloons and commentary from astronauts aboard the International Space Station.

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However not everyone was glued to the computer.

 Seven-year-old Sophie Maunula spent the day outside with mom viewing the eclipse with their homemade viewer.

“It was awesome to see,” Maunula said. “I hope next time we can get glasses to see it better.”

 The next eclipse to come to Canada will be a total eclipse and will occur on April 8, 2024.

However you will need to be on the East coast to get a good view as the eclipse will cross the southern tips of Ontario and Quebec, central New Brunswick, P.E.I. and Newfoundland.

rogerwhite@jpbg.ca

On Twitter : @battlefordsNOW