Total solar eclipse to arc across North America in April 2024 | 24CA News
One 12 months from now, a complete photo voltaic eclipse will sweep throughout North America, and thousands and thousands of Canadians can be taking it in.
On April 8, 2024, the eclipse can be seen from Mexico to Canada, because it treks from beneath the Baja California peninsula to the Atlantic time zone, swinging over a number of U.S. states earlier than venturing throughout the ocean.
In Canada, the whole eclipse can be seen in elements of Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic Canada. An inventory of Canadian cities the place the whole eclipse and its 186-km-wide swath (115 miles) can be seen is accessible on-line.
A complete eclipse happens when the Moon passes between the Sun and Earth, fully blocking the Sun. But should you can’t wait a 12 months, one other kind of eclipse will happen in 2023, however extra on that later.
Next 12 months’s whole photo voltaic eclipse, which can begin within the South Pacific Ocean, will attain Mexico’s coast at 11:07 a.m. PT, and finally exit Newfoundland at 5:16 p.m. NDT. It’s estimated that the whole eclipse will final round four-and-a-half minutes.
In Ontario, Hamilton, Niagara Falls, Kingston and Cornwall are alongside the whole darkness path, as is Montreal.
Toronto, in the meantime, is simply on the sting, although one web site says GTA residents will expertise roughly 99.8 per cent of the whole eclipse.
An annular photo voltaic eclipse rises over the skyline of Toronto on Thursday, June 10, 2021.
Frank Gunn / The Canadian Press
If you propose on taking in an eclipse, right here’s what NASA says.
“Except during the brief total phase of a total solar eclipse, when the Moon completely blocks the Sun’s bright face, it is not safe to look directly at the Sun without specialized eye protection for solar viewing,” mentioned NASA.
“Viewing any part of the bright Sun through a camera lens, binoculars, or a telescope without a special-purpose solar filter secured over the front of the optics will instantly cause severe eye injury.”
The Space Agency added that “when watching the partial phases of the solar eclipse directly with your eyes, which happens before and after totality, you must look through safe, solar-viewing glasses (‘eclipse glasses’) or a safe handheld solar viewer at all times. You can also use an indirect viewing method, such as a pinhole projector.”
For Western Canada, how darkish the skies will depend upon geography. The Prairies will see 30 to 60 per cent of the whole eclipse, whereas B.C. will see between 30 per cent within the Interior and 15 per cent alongside the South Coast.
However, this 12 months, the reverse will principally occur when an annual photo voltaic eclipse swings throughout from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific Northwest on Oct. 14, 2023.
An annular eclipse is sort of a complete eclipse, however the moon doesn’t completely cowl the solar, leaving a visual ‘ring of fire.’
The eclipse will journey from southeastern Texas to Oregon earlier than reaching the Pacific Ocean. The closest Canadian province can be B.C., which can see 80 per cent of it alongside the South Coast, with a lot of the Interior seeing 70 per cent.
Elsewhere, the Prairies will see 30 to 60 per cent, with Ontario between 30 and 40 per cent and Quebec at 20 per cent. Atlantic Canada will see 10 per cent.
“The name annular comes from the Latin word for ring, annulus,” mentioned NASA. “These eclipses are named for their darkest, or maximum, point even if it only lasts less than a second.
“If the characteristic ring of fire is visible from even just one location, the whole eclipse is called an annular solar eclipse.”
NASA added that in most locations and for a lot of the period, an annular eclipse seems like a partial photo voltaic eclipse.
More details about the whole photo voltaic eclipse in 2024 is offered on NASA’s web site.
More details about the annular eclipse in 2023 is offered on NASA’S web site.
© 2023 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
