Observatory

Information on the solar eclipse on April 8, 2024: see here

The StFX Observatory is located on West Street, just off University Avenue (building 25 to the left of West Street on the campus map). It opened in 2018 and is mainly used for teaching, outreach, and student research projects. It houses the following instruments: 

• 28 cm (11”) Schmidt-Cassegrain Telescope (SCT), pier-mounted  
• 25 cm (10”) SCT, pier-mounted  
• 70 mm refractor  
• 60 mm H-alpha filtered refractor for solar observing  
• 33 cm (13”) Dobsonian  

A small classroom (with washroom) is located nearby.   

Please visit the Department's Facebook page for information on when the observatory will be open. 

During the term, the observatory will be open to the public on Wednesday nights if the sky is sufficiently clear. We may offer additional observation sessions, but information on this will only be available on short notice. Reliable information on the weather is normally only available 6-12 hours before an event. The tentative schedule can be found at the bottom of this page.  

Some webpages of interest:  

• Environment Canada cloud forecast
• Sky and Telescope updates
• Astronomical picture of the day

Observatory schedule for winter 2024, weather permitting

Since weather is a major factor, we will confirm on our Facebook page if a session actually takes place, usually a few hours before the session. The times given are "arrival times". People who want to join us for an observation session should arrive at the observatory during the hour given in the schedule. Depending on the interest of visitors, we will keep the observatory open longer.

Information on the solar eclipse on April 8, 2024

On April 8, Eastern Canada will experience a solar eclipse, when the Moon will move in front of the Sun and block its light. Depending on your location, the eclipse will be total (the Sun is completely covered) or partial (when the Moon only covers a part of the Sun). Antigonish will experience a partial eclipse. To witness a total eclipse, you either have to go to New Brunswick (Fredericton, or the region around Miramichi) or Cape Breton (only the northernmost tip, North of the northernmost location of Cabot trail).

The Physics Department will not do anything special in Antigonish on April 8. We encourage everyone who is interested to make the trip to New Brunswick (if it is not cloudy). The difference between a partial and a solar eclipse is huge. Even if the Sun is covered to 99%, the remaining 1% of sunlight will still be brighter than anything else in the sky. A partial eclipse feels a bit like evening, shortly before sunset. With special protective glasses, you can see the silhouette of the Moon in front of the Sun, but that's it. Do not look directly at the Sun without such glasses!

In a total eclipse, the light coming directly from the Sun is fully blocked. It will turn night for about 2-3 minutes. You will then be able to see

• The corona of the Sun (its extremely hot atmosphere)
• Solar prominences (explosions on the Sun's surface that throw material hundreds of throusand kilometers into empty space).
• The stars near the Sun. 

• The planets Jupiter (higher in the sky than the Sun) and Venus (lower in the sky).

• We (physics department members) will even try to see the bending of light coming from stars, an effect explained by Einstein's theory of Relativity. However, this effect is extremely small and requires high resolution photographs with long exposure time. Confirmation can only be made many months later when the same stars are visible during nighttime.

Hopefully, this short summary has enthused you enough to go to New Brunswick and witness the total eclipse there. If you have to stay in Antigonish, you can still see the partial eclipse. The department will provide the public library with protective glasses, so that you can safely watch the Moon blocking the Sun. The Moon will start to block the Sun around 3:30 p.m.  The Moon will cover the most Sun (but not totally) about 4:30 p.m.  It will all be over by about 5:45 p.m.

More information about the eclipse, where to watch it, and when it occurs:

• An article on CBC
• The path of totality and timing on eclipse2024.