The Grey Bruce region will be able to catch a rare celestial event next week.
Canadian Space Agency Mission Scientist Bill Archer says while the once in a lifetime near total eclipse will not plunge the region into complete darkness, there will be interesting visual effects at 95 per cent totality on April 8.
Archer adds while eclipses are not uncommon, usually happening around two to five times a year, being in the path of totality is a once in a lifetime occurrence. The last time Grey Bruce was in the path of an eclipse was in 1925.
“If you are in the path of totality, you sort of have one to three minutes of really night time in the middle of the day, and all sorts of weird and interesting experiences happen because of that and you are not going to get any of that if you aren’t actually within the path of totality,” says Archer.
He says one of these visual effects to look out for includes trees.
“If you look at the light passing through the branches of a tree and it makes a dappled pattern on the ground, we sort of think of that pattern as being formless or just formed entirely by the tree, but each and everyone of those little dots is a little image of the sun. When there is an eclipse going on, each and everyone of those little bits of sunlight passing through the branches of a tree, is going to be a little crescent moon,” says Archer.
To get a better look at the visual effect, he recommends people get anything with holes and let the light pass through.
“These things don’t come to any given location on Earth very often,” says Archer. “Things have to line up just right for effectively the shadow of the moon to actually land directly on the Earth.”
He recommends if people are able to travel to a spot with 100 per cent totality to do so.
“I think it will probably be worth the little bit of travel either to get to an area of totality or alternatively make sure you are somewhere it is going to be clear skies,” says Archer.
In Ontario, Archer says the eclipse with start around 2 p.m., reach its climax around 3:15 p.m., before ending around 4:30 p.m.
Grey Bruce Public Health is out with a reminder you need proper eye protection to view the eclipse safely. Glasses with special lenses, not just regular sunglasses, are necessary.
“To safely view the eclipse, ISO-certified eclipse glasses that meet the ISO 12312-2 international safety standard must be worn,” the local health unit says in a release.
