'It's going to be just magic': Saskatchewanians prepare for Monday's solar eclipse

Saskatchewan sky watchers will have a chance to get a partial view of a solar eclipse Monday.

Samantha Lawler, an associate professor of astronomy at the University of Regina, said the eclipse will begin around noon CST and go until about 2 p.m., with the peak sometime before 1 p.m.

She said the safest and easiest way to watch the eclipse is to wear solar eclipse glasses with special lenses on them.

"You can also wear a welding helmet if it's dark enough," she said. "It has to be shade 14 or darker, which is pretty dark, even for a welding helmet."

Lawler said that if you don't have those things, the simplest method is to poke a hole through a piece of paper and let sunlight shine through. She said this is her favourite way to watch the eclipse, because the geometry changes over the course of the eclipse.

"The shape of the sun will project onto the ground," she said. "It's really neat."

There are eclipse-viewing events scheduled at the University of Regina and the Saskatchewan Science Centre. Both will have solar eclipse glasses available to share, telescopes set up with solar filters and pinhole projector stations.

Friends Krista Baliko and Michael Bell hit the road early last week to get the total eclipse experience.

They are going to be watching it from San Angelo, Texas, which will have a full view of the celestial event.

Baliko said she went on the road trip originally to just spend time with her friend, but as she began reading more about the eclipse she got more excited about seeing it.

"It's going to be awesome," said Baliko. "It's going to be just magic."

Bell said that with luck there will be no clouds and they will see the full eclipse.

"I've read that when you're in the path of totality there's a moment when the moon is squarely in front of the sun, and you can actually take off your glasses and see it," Bell said.

"It's just one of these experiences that doesn't come around very often, and its supposed to be very impactful."