There will be a partial solar eclipse visible for Canadians this Saturday and the Queen’s Observatory will be hosting an Open House

The partial eclipse will take place around 12-2:30 p.m. and peak at 1:14 p.m. Before the eclipse, the observatory will also feature a presentation entitled "The Mid-Day Midnight Sky" by Livia Comeau, a Queen's University Physics undergraduate student working on the 2024 Eclipse outreach and planning committee. 

This event at the observatory is also acting as a lead-up to the events they will be holding in the spring for the total solar eclipse in April 2024.

Nikhil Aurora, Queen’s Eclipse Coordinator, spoke to the frequency of these events.

“The last solar eclipse that happened, the partial solar eclipse that most people should remember was August 17th, 2017. The last total solar eclipse that happened and that passed through Kingston was 675 years ago, the year 1300," Aurora said. "And so now we're actually lucky, we're getting two back to back solar eclipses, one partial, which we're calling a teaser for the total solar eclipse that happens in April. And then the next total solar eclipse that passes through Kingston is going to be in roughly 375 years. So I don't know about you, but I'm a little busy that day.”

The open house will be held on Saturday Oct. 14 at 11 a.m. in Ellis Hall Auditorium.

For more information on the observatory, you can visit https://www.queensu.ca/observatory/ 

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