Achi news desk-
Chris Hadfield is best known as an astronaut, but despite his adventures outside the Earth’s lower atmosphere, he had never seen a total solar eclipse until Monday.
“When I was a kid growing up on the farm, we had a partial eclipse and I was more excited than anyone in the family,” Hadfield told CTV News Atlantic. “I got a piece of paper and I punched some holes in it and with the sun coming down through the paper, I was able to watch that partial eclipse happen.
“The stars have never since aligned for me to see an eclipse until today.”
Hadfield visited Florenceville-Bristol, DS, on Monday to view the path of totality of the solar eclipse. He was one of thousands of people across the Maritimes who observed the celestial event, which will not repeat itself in the region until 2079.
Thousands of people flocked to Fredericton, NB, located in the path of totality, to close Eclipsefest in the city. The Garrison Area was packed with spectators and vendors providing information about the once-in-a-lifetime moment.
Traffic was heavy in many parts of Prince Edward Island as thousands of observers moved around to get a good view of the eclipse.
Most of Nova Scotia may be outside the path of totality, but that didn’t stop residents from seeing the moon partially obscure the sun. In Halifax, people filled the field at St Mary’s University to witness the eclipse, enjoying an extra-special view thanks to powerful telescopes from the astronomy department.
Participants use a telescope to view the solar eclipse at St Mary’s University in Halifax. (Source: Paul Hollingsworth/CTV News Atlantic)Meat Cove, at the northern tip of Cape Breton, was the only spot in Nova Scotia that landed in the path of totality, which attracted several eclipse watchers on Monday afternoon.
Hadfield said the eclipse was an opportunity to reflect on humanity’s place in the universe and our common experiences and achievements.
“It’s one of those rare days where literally millions of people stop and look up,” he said. “We spend a lot of time looking at our shoes and wrapping up in human misconduct; meanwhile there is the incredible infinite nature of things around us. Today is a very unifying day.
“We are at an incredible time in history.”
View a full photo gallery of the eclipse here.
-With files from Avery MacRae, Jack Morse, Nick Moore, and Paul Hollingsworth
