The Okanagan Science Centre's parking lot was jammed Monday morning as people came out to take in the solar eclipse. Hundreds of people attended the Vernon event, many with children in tow, to take part in the rare event.

“It's a big deal because it is so interesting and it is available to everyone,” said Kevin Aschenmeier, the science centre's resident eclipse expert.

Staff had set up had solar binoculars and a telescope with a solar filter which allowed people a safe way of viewing the eclipse.

Aschenmeier jokingly apologized to the crowd after the centre ran out of eclipse glasses. About 200 had been brought it but were quickly scooped up.

No matter. People in the parking lot and in Polson Park shared the glasses with nearby strangers.

A number of others had brought homemade devices, including pinhole cameras that were made out of cereal boxes, or used binoculars pointing at a dark background to watch the moon's progression across the face of the sun.

“That's really cool,” said one girl looking through a pinhole camera. “The moon is still a crescent but it's in front of the sun and it's neat.”

Centuries ago, some civilizations considered a solar eclipse as an evil event while some First Nations believed it was a time for contemplation and the telling of stories, said Aschenmeier.

Nowadays it is pure science.

“It is still the sun, the moon and the earth getting lined up but for scientists it is a big deal. During a total eclipse, it is the best time to look at the solar corona, the atmosphere of the sun. We can't really mimic it. The best we have is something called a coronagraph that blocks the light of the sun but it's too blurry.”