Partial solar eclipse visible across Alberta on Wednesday morning

A partial solar eclipse will be visible across Alberta on Wednesday, August 12, with the timing and depth varying depending on where you are in the province.

For Calgary residents, the eclipse will begin at 10:11 a.m., with mid-eclipse at 10:36 a.m., when approximately 7 percent of the sun will be obscured by the moon. The eclipse will end around 11:03 a.m.

Further north, the effect is more dramatic. In Edmonton, the eclipse starts at 10:02 a.m., with mid-eclipse at 10:58 a.m., when about 14 percent of the sun's area will be hidden. In Grande Prairie, it begins at 9:54 a.m. with mid-eclipse at 10:33 a.m., showing about 18 percent obscuration — the deepest in Alberta. Manitoba and the Northwest Territories will see even deeper partial eclipses.

Frank Florian, an educator at the TELUS World of Science in Edmonton, emphasized the importance of proper viewing equipment. "You never want to look at the sun on any given day," he said. "Solar eclipses are ones where you do need to have special solar-viewing equipment in order to see the sun safely."

Planetariums and observatories across Canada are setting up viewing stations. The TELUS World of Science's observatory in Edmonton — offset from the main building and unaffected by recent flooding — will allow visitors to safely view the eclipse through specially equipped telescopes. The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada will also set up personal telescopes with safe solar viewing filters. Calgary locations will similarly have observatories available, though specific venues have not been named in the source material.

Viewing the eclipse without proper equipment risks serious eye damage. Safe solar-viewing equipment includes special eclipse glasses or telescopes fitted with solar filters. Florian noted that the duration of safe viewing time is roughly an hour across most of Alberta, making the window brief but observable for those with the right gear.