McAllisters Witness Total Solar Eclipse

A family from Steinbach had the opportunity Monday to witness a total solar eclipse.

Ken McAllister and his family had been planning this trip for more than a year. He says they chose Huntington, Oregon because of its dry climate and the high probability of a clear sky. And McAllister says they were not disappointed.

"It was incredible," he says.

The McAllisters joined thousands of tourists from around the world and spent the morning in a field staring at the sky. McAllister says the eclipse lasted about three hours, but totality was only two minutes and seven seconds in length. During that time, the temperature dropped and the sky turned dark.

"It was like a deep twilight, it wasn't like midnight black sky," he says. "The street lights went on, we could see stars in the sky."

He says what was really notable was the corona. Many people call this the sun's rays, which can't normally be seen because of the brightness of the sun. But during a total eclipse, McAllister says you see cloudy wisps of light which were indescribable and amazing to witness.

"From all the eclipse pictures I've seen around the world, I can't recall ever seeing a corona this spectacular, it was unbelievable," he says.

McAllister says this is the second total solar eclipse he has witnessed in his life. The first one happened in 1979 in Winnipeg. He says 38 years ago he knew he wanted to witness it again. The next one will be in 2024 and McAllister says he is already looking forward to it.

McAllister says while watching the spectacle, his thoughts went to people from centuries earlier who wouldn't have known it was coming. McAllister says they certainly would have braced for some sort of pending disaster. But he says what is described as the number one most spectacular visual spectacle you will see in your lifetime, is all natural.

"It's just the sun and moon doing their normal motions," he explains. "But the way that God has designed it, the sun is exactly four hundred times bigger than the moon so that the moon when it goes in front at the right time, it covers the sun completely."

McAllister says there were shouts of excitement and cheering from the crowds during totality. And he says a family from Denmark nearby broke open a bottle of Champagne.

Here in Steinbach, the partial solar eclipse was mostly unseen due to cloud cover over the lunch hour.

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Family Travels 1600kms To Witness Total Solar Eclipse