CBC News
August 21, 2017
They came from all over Ottawa for a celestial spectacle — and the sun and moon delivered.
Several thousand people walked, biked and endured traffic jams to get to the Canada Aviation and Space Museum in the city’s east end to catch a glimpse of the partial solar eclipse which, at its maximum in the Ottawa area, showed the moon covering 60 per cent of the sun.
Families came with lawn chairs, picnics, and homemade pin-hole cameras to share in the event.
The museum was handing out free, disposable protective glasses to participants, but they ran out early on. Many people quickly passed a coveted pair of the lenses to a stranger desperate to catch a glimpse.
The eclipse at its peak covered 60 per cent of the sun in Ottawa. (Roger Dubois/CBC News)
Myles Bunbury took the day off work and came with his wife Summer and young daughter
“We appreciate astronomy, it’s sort of cool,” he said “It sets you up in the universe, so to speak, and lets you see the celestial mechanics going off out there.”
Escaping the sights of every day life was thrilling for Bunbury.
“It’s just taking time in our hectic lives, so an eclipse like this one takes two hours to transit and it’s nice to slow down and appreciate nature and what it’s doing.”
Bunbury’s young daughter, Imoen, brought her stuffed bear complete with felt glasses covering his eyes.
“It’s neat because the moon is gobbling up the sun,” she said.