Achi news desk-
Astrophysicist Robert Thacker knows several colleagues who have traveled around the world to see solar eclipses, but it is a phenomenon he has never seen in person. Next week he crosses it off his to-do list as he plans to drive to New Brunswick to see the moon cover the sun.
“I have to go see it so I can have that experience,” Thacker told CTV’s Todd Batti in an interview. “If you’re within a close journey of (the path of) totality, I’d say do it because it’s a different experience.”
The solar eclipse will take place on April 8, plunging parts of New Brunswick in darkness for a few seconds. Central New Brunswick will experience the full effect of the eclipse as it will be in the path of totality, but other regions in the Maritimes could catch a glimpse of the celestial event.
“If it’s a clear day and you’re on the path of totality, which is the point where the entire sun will be completely covered by the moon, there will be three minutes of total darkness,” Thacker said. “The actual time the moon touches the sun is about a few hours. In Nova Scotia, Meat Cove will get a minute and a half (of darkness), so will some PEI”
Thacker advises people to wear appropriate glasses to protect themselves during the eclipse and not to use unfiltered telescopes to look at the sun.
“Be very careful with your vision,” he said.
Thacker said that while there may not be much to learn from this eclipse from a scientific perspective, it is still an amazing event, especially given its historical rarity.
“Professional astronomers will talk about a very intense experience for them,” he said. “A lot of them wax lyrical about it.
“The next total eclipse to cover Halifax is 2079.”
