Total Solar Eclipse

It's two weeks until the total solar eclipse on Monday April 8th. Have you made plans yet? 

It will be the last total solar eclipse that I will see in my lifetime (unless I travel).

Alberta will have one in 2044. 

USA (California to Florida to Caribbean) in 2045. 

Mexico to North Florida in 2052. 

Maritimes in 2079.

There will be others in other parts of the world, but these are the only ones in North America until 2079.

There will be partial solar eclipses (when you see a crescent sun) and annular solar eclipses (the moon is smaller than the sun) and lunar eclipses, but this is the only time in Ontario that we can see the moon fully cover the sun. It will go dark in the middle of the day.

This will not happen in Toronto where it will be a 99.6% eclipse. Click here to check the timing and details of your town or city. All of Canada, Mexico and the US (except Alaska) will at least experience a partial eclipse. 

Although partial eclipses are exciting, they say that witnessing a total eclipse is unforgettable. 

You don't just see a total eclipse, you experience it!

Daylight turns into dusk then night when the sun becomes a black circle surrounded by a halo. Some planets and stars can become visible. The temperature drops by ten degrees or more. 

The colours of sunset will be visible all around you. I can't imagine a 360 degree sunset!!

The total eclipse will end with a sunburst along one edge which is called the "diamond ring effect" because it looks like an engagement ring. This is what the 99% eclipse will look like in Toronto.

Eclipse Glasses

I bought eclipse glasses from Telescopes Canada. I preferred to order from a reputable source even if they charged shipping.  If you live near me, I bought extra ones to save friends from ordering unsafe ones or paying more on shipping than on the glasses themselves. Contact me if you're interested.

If you're purchasing your own, you want to ensure they are from a reputable source and that they meet the international ISO 12312-2 standard. You should not be able to see anything when you look through them. Ensure they cover your whole eyes, that they don't have scratches or holes and that you put them on before looking up at the sun (and to look down before taking them off). If you can see a lamp or light, they are possibly counterfeit. The Toronto Star reported that there were unsafe and counterfeit glasses sold on Amazon in 2017. Click here for a list of suppliers of safe glasses and click here for an article about warnings and reassurances about glasses by the American Astronomical Society.

I also ordered a camera filter that will hopefully give us better photography and protection than it did for the partial eclipse in 2017. We were lucky that we didn't damage the camera. I have since learned that cameras and phone cameras can get damaged if exposed to the sun's rays during an eclipse without eclipse glasses or filters protecting them (sunglasses are not enough). 

It would still be cool to see the partial eclipse if I stayed home, but I'll get other chances for that in the future. I plan on driving to experience the total eclipse.

Here's the map of the general path (not completely accurate as this seems to show Toronto in the path):

Golden Horseshoe and Northern New York State:

The closer we are to the blue line, the longer the moon will cover the sun. In Buffalo, it will be for 3 minutes 45 seconds. In Brantford it will be one minute 15 seconds.

Other times of darkness to give perspective:

Burlington: 44 seconds

Hamilton: 1min 47sec

Beamsville: 2m59s

Smithville: 3m6s

Cayuga: 3m10

Niagara Falls: 3m32s

Welland: 3m34s

Fort Erie: 3m43s

In the Golden Horseshoe, the partial eclipse will start at around 2:05pm. The total eclipse will be at around 3:18pm and the partial will end at 4:30pm.

In 2017, traffic congestion in the path of the total eclipse in the U.S. lasted for 13 hours after the eclipse. Hopefully our road systems will better handle the traffic here.

I may try to avoid the QEW from Hamilton to Niagara. 

Seeing all the open space on the map below, I may go as far as possible on the QEW and then exit and drive into open space to find a spot.

In 2017, Toronto experienced a 70% partial eclipse. I was super excited and remember the craziness of the crowds at the Science Centre when I went to get eclipse glasses that morning. Thousands of people lined up in organized chaos to get a pair of eclipse glasses before they ran out.

We went to our local park to view the partial eclipse. We had a camera set up on a tripod, but we didn't get a good photo of the eclipse. At least we could see it with our eyes while wearing the protective glasses.

We also prepared a simple viewer with two pieces of white cardboard. We punched a pinhole in one piece of cardboard and let the sunlight fall through that hole onto the second piece of cardboard held below it to see an inverted image of the sun. You can use a colander for a similar experiment. 

I was luckier last fall for the annular eclipse and got a photo of the 39% partial eclipse when I put my purple tinged sunglasses in front of the lens. I didn't look at it with my eyes this time because I didn't have eclipse glasses.

It surprised me how happy I was to have captured this one and how close I got to say: "maybe next time". It was a last second decision for me to go outside to "see" it. It's so easy to make excuses to not do things. I try to remind myself that it's normally worth the effort. I wrote a blog post last fall with more detail about these past events and synchronicities that occurred (including a Coldplay concert). Click here to read it.

I hope you enjoy this rare event. I'd love to hear about your experience.