The Path of Totality is the grey area on the map. The centre line (marked in red) is the location with the longest totality. The farther from the red line, the shorter the eclipse. Niagara Falls has the same length of eclipse as Dunnville. St Catherines will have 3 minutes, Grimsby 2 minutes and Hamilton with 1. The area outside the grey area will experience a partial solar eclipse.

 

EVENTS IN THE KITCHENER-WATERLOO AREA

If you can’t go south to go to the Path of Totality here is a list of events that are being planned in our area:

Waterloo: University of Waterloo has a really good astronomy department. The UW Astro Club will manage their Eclipse Event.

Kitchener: THE MUSEUM on King St. In Kitchener is planning a big observing event in one of the local park. Astronomy Talk March 21, 1:30 to 2:30. “10 Things I Like in Astronomy.” Register at https://themuseum.ca/events/ 

Guelph: The University of Guelph is planning an event at their observatory. Details to follow.

Hamilton: The Hamilton Centre of RASC is planning an event in one of their parks. Details to follow. hamiltonrasc.ca

Niagara Falls: Niagara Falls Centre of RASC is planning an event in their city in a local park. Details to follow. astronomyniagara.com

Mississauga: U of T at Mississauga is planning an Eclipse Event on their campus. 

Port Colborne: https://www.portcolborne.ca/solareclipse.

PURPOSE

The focus of our Club’s work is to encourage people in the Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge, Guelph, Stratford, and London Area to travel south to the “Path of Totality.” We are assuming that the crowds from the GTA will travel to the Golden Horseshoe and along the Niagara River.

WHY DUNNVILLE?

We have chosen the Dunnville area to arrange for observing sites. It will avoid the crowded areas from Fort Eire to St. Catherines and to Hamilton.

Directions : Dunnville is a ninety minute drive from Kitchener. The best route is down Franklin St in Cambridge, east on Dunlop / Hwy 8 to Peters Corners, south on Rte 52 to Rte 56 to Rte 3 into Dunnville. This route avoids major highways and should be less crowded on eclipse day making it a one day trip.

OBSERVING SITES:

No. 6 RCAF Museum, 5365 Port Maitland Road, Dunnville. The museum will be open eclipse day. The site is only 30 kms from the Path of Totality giving a total eclipse time of 3 minutes and 33 seconds. rcafmuseum.org

Location 42.88, - 79.587 

partial begins   2:03:54 pm,

full begins        3:07:31 pm

maximum         3:19:18 pm

full ends           3:21:04 pm

partial ends      4:31:27 pm

Duration of totality:  3 minutes, 33 seconds.

There will be more information posted here as our plan develops.

RESOURCES:

Astronomy Magazine - How When and Where to See the 2024 Total Solar Eclipse

www.astronomy.com/observing/…

 

20 of the Best Places to View the 2024 Great North American Eclipse

www.astronomy.com/observing/…

 

Time and Date.com Eclipse Solar 2024 April 8

www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/…

 

Eclipse 2024.org - eclipse2024.org…

 

Discover the Universe   3 minutes. Consider needing only one or two eclipse glasses per family.

 SOURCES FOR ECLIPSE GLASSES

 RASC Store, www.rasc.ca / store. The store is limiting purchases to 10 per order.

Contact the KW Astronomy Club and we'll get them to you. kw.rasc.ca/ask a question

To order more than 10, go to Monarch Butterfly website. https://www.monarchbutterflyeclipse.com

KW Telescope is the best telescope store in Canada. For solar eclipse glasses, astronomy books, milar for solar filters and astronomy advice stop by and talk to Shannon and Brian. 25 Manitou Drive, Kitchener, www.kwtelescope.com, 519 745 5757, 877 345 5757.

American Astronomical Association has a list of eclipse glasses suppliers: https://eclipse.aas.org/eye-safety/viewers-filters