Prepare for an `exhilarating' experience during eclipse
Essex County will be first place in Canada to witness rare spectacle
Darkness will descend. Stars will emerge. Wildlife will act weird.
For the first time in about 250 years, a total solar eclipse will wash over a swath of Essex County, engulfing it in afternoon darkness.
The Great North American Eclipse is coming April 8, and Essex County will be the first place in Canada to fall under its shadow.
Most who have beheld the rare cosmic phenomenon elsewhere will attest to it as an unparalleled spectacle.
While temperatures plunge on Earth beneath the moon's shadow, raging plasma storms will be visible on the sun. Distant planets will appear. A comet might streak by.
“It's pretty freaky,” said Steven Pellarin, a University of Windsor astronomer and vice-president of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada — Windsor Centre. “One of the most interesting things I find about an eclipse is the effect it has on peoples' emotions.
“It's a visceral thing you feel. It's not just what you see. You feel the temperature change. You feel the wind. It just looks wrong.
“Among all the other things that are going on in the environment, people find it exhilarating. You'll hear people hooting and hollering.
“Watching people sometimes is the best part of the eclipse experience.”
WHAT IS A SOLAR ECLIPSE?
A solar eclipse occurs when the moon passes between our planet and the sun, casting a shadow on Earth. A total solar eclipse happens if the moon is at its closest point to Earth when it makes the pass, as it will be on April 8. Because it's closer, it appears larger and entirely obscures the disk of the sun.
The moon, Earth, and sun will be perfectly aligned.
“The perspective of the observer of cosmic activities can be enriched when they are encouraged to be aware that we are all on a planet, orbiting a star, and the moon is orbiting us,” said Nancy Ng, the director of observing with the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada — Windsor Centre.
“For a brief moment these three celestial bodies glide into a unique alignment as the shadow of the moon sails past us at 2,400-kilometres-an-hour and a black circle appears in the sky where the blazing sun should be.”
IT'S BEEN A LONG TIME COMING
This will be the first total solar eclipse visible in Canada since 1979, when the moon's shadow carved a path across parts of Manitoba and northern Ontario.
“It's the blackest thing you've ever seen in your life,” said Pellarin, who has witnessed four total solar eclipses, including the one in 1979. “If you think of what a black hole might look like, it looks like that with the glowing light, shimmering atmosphere of the sun backlighting it from behind.
“Then you have a few stars come out. If you look along the horizon, it looks like sunrise all the way around you ... because you're actually looking out from underneath the moon's shadow.”
A total solar eclipse happens somewhere in the world about every 18 months, but you have to be in the right place at the right time to see it.
On this rare occasion, the relatively narrow 183-km path of the total eclipse will include southern parts of Essex County such as Leamington, Kingsville, Point Pelee, and Pelee Island. That hasn't happened since the late 1700s.
IT'S NOT JUST AN ECLIPSE, IT'S A PARTY
The buzz has been building. Expect booked hotels and traffic jams near the path of the total eclipse, also known as “totality.”
“You're going to need to make plans and be prepared to leave early to get in there,” said Pellarin.
There will likely be an influx of tourists, including some who chase eclipses wherever they appear.
Tourism Windsor Essex Pelee Island (TWEPI) has created a solar eclipse guide on its website with details about numerous events and promotions, including hotel packages, wine tastings, viewing parties and cruises. Some events sold out weeks in advance.
“There is an expectation that it will be of great interest to many,” said Gordon Orr, CEO of the tourism bureau. “The interest is increasing as we get closer to the date.
“We've been tracking hotel occupancy. And certainly the hotels for a Monday night are getting busier for bookings. It's going to be something exciting and something for people to take in and enjoy.
“We're fortunate that this is one of the premier spots in the world to view the eclipse.”
HOW TO PROTECT YOUR EYES WHEN LOOKING AT THE ECLIPSE
For the uninitiated, watching the eclipse does require some precautions. Observers should always use special ISO -certified eclipse glasses or another safe viewing method to look at the sun.
Pellarin said welding masks are not recommended because they don't all have sufficient shade ratings to protect the eyes from the sun's powerful rays. Sunglasses also won't do the job.
“Everybody has to wear solar eclipse glasses if they want to look directly at the sun,” he said.
Pellarin has been selling eclipse glasses out of the University of Windsor's CAW Student Centre on weekdays and at Fogolar Furlan Club on Wednesdays and Saturdays, raising money for astronomy outreach programs.
In the first three weeks, he sold more than 12,000 glasses. He expected the second batch of 15,000 to go just as quickly.
“If you buy glasses anywhere you should make sure they have the ISO certification, which is a standard for safety,” said Pellarin.
Even at 90 per cent coverage, the sun is still powerful enough to permanently damage your eyes. Pellarin said the only time it's safe to look with the naked eye is during the moment of total solar eclipse.
HOW LONG WILL IT LAST?
Locally, the total eclipse will range from a couple of seconds to about three minutes, depending on where you're watching in Essex County.
Windsor sits just outside the path of totality, and will only experience a partial solar eclipse of about 80 per cent.
“The further south you go the better,” said Gordon Drake, professor of physics emeritus at the University of Windsor and past president of the Canadian Association of Physicists.
The edge of the moon will start creeping in front of the sun around 2 p.m., taking about an hour to completely cover it.
Around 2:45 p.m., the sky will turn darker and the temperature will drop. Under the shadow of the moon, Pellarin said there is no radiation from the sun warming the atmosphere.
“It actually cools the air underneath the shadow that the Moon is casting,” he said. “That colder air, because it's denser, wants to sink.
“As it starts to sink it hits the ground and goes splat, kind of like dropping paint from a second-floor roof. The sinking air hits the ground and spreads out in all directions. That creates a bit of a wind.”
Then the sky will turn “ominous,” he said, as the darkness grows.
“It's like somebody is taking a dimmer switch and slowly turning down the sunlight,” said Pellarin. “The shadows on the ground will start to change.”
HERE'S WHEN THINGS GET REALLY INTERESTING
In the last five minutes before total eclipse, Pellarin said the sky will turn into a “deep twilight” and stars will come into view. Jupiter and Venus will likely appear.
“The planets look like stars,” he said. “They're just a lot brighter. So you'll notice a couple of really bright ones. Those are probably the planets Jupiter and Venus.
“There's a comet that is supposed to be visible to the naked eye as well.”
The first place in Canada to fall under the moon's shadow will be Pelee Island. People there will experience three minutes and 15 seconds of totality starting at 3:12 p.m. The shadow will hit the mainland at Point Pelee National Park at 3:13 p.m.
After crossing over Essex County, the shadow will crawl across Lake Erie and move up Highway 401, just missing London and Chatham-kent. It will leave Ontario at 3:27 p.m.
Despite being eclipsed, the sun will also put on a show.
“The spectacular part comes during the period of totality, the total eclipse,” said Drake. Around the edge of the moon covering the Sun, you'll see the solar corona.
“That's the outer atmosphere of the sun. It's like a glowing halo around the sun. That's quite spectacular. No picture can do it justice.
“To see the sun turn into this completely different spectacle is quite amazing.”
Pellarin said the sun is currently at the “most violent part” of its 11year magnetic cycle, which means its surface is roiled with massive storms and eruptions.
“We're expecting to be able to see huge plumes of plasma branching off the surface,” he said. “These are like giant flames. These are called prominences, and they stick out from the edge of the sun.
“Even though the moon is covering the sun's disk, these things stretch out for hundreds of thousands of kilometres from the sun's surface.”
EXPECT STRANGE ANIMAL BEHAVIOUR — WILDLIFE, PETS, FARMS
The natural environment isn't the only thing that behaves strangely during an eclipse.
According to NASA, when a solar eclipse reaches totality, nocturnal wildlife will sometimes wake up while non-nocturnal animals head off to sleep.
Several studies have shown that eclipses can suddenly change wildlife behaviour, from decreased honeybee foraging to bald eagles changing their speed and direction of movement.
In 2017, researchers observed animals at Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia, S.C., during a total solar eclipse. Giraffes gathered together and started galloping in herds. Baboons did the same.
Elephants and gorillas headed off to sleep. Male gorillas became aggressive. Tortoises started moving faster. They gazed up at the sky. They started mating.
In Essex County, eagle-eyed observers will notice a change in bird behaviour during the April 8 eclipse.
“About 15 or 20 minutes before, animals will start to notice something weird is going on, and they're going to start behaving strangely,” said Pellarin.
“You'll see birds flocking and flying this way and that way. You'll hear a lot more noise from the animals. In different eclipses I've been in, dogs start barking like crazy.
“On farms, the animals moo. They start heading back to the barn. There will be a lot more strange behaviour with animals because they can sense something different is happening.”
The Town of Essex is suggesting that people keep their pets inside during the eclipse.
“It's essential to keep our furry friends safe too,” said Marc Tortola, the town's manager of strategic communications. “Keep pets indoors during the eclipse to prevent them from staring at the sun and potentially damaging their eyes.”
WHEN IS THE NEXT ONE?
Pay attention. Everything will all happen fast. And the chance to see it again won't come around any time soon.
After April 8, the next total solar eclipse visible from Canada will not occur until Aug. 23, 2044. But for Essex County, the wait will be much longer.
According to NASA, a total solar eclipse is visible from the same place only once about every 375 years on average.
“Maybe if we're lucky, we'll get a couple of minutes, if you're down along the southern coast of the county,” said Pellarin. “But it goes by so fast. You lose sense of time while you're watching it, and before you know it, it will be over.
“And we're not going to have another one in our lifetime that comes through here that's going to be total. So this is it.”
JOIN THE ONCE-IN-ALIFETIME PARTY
Go to Steven Pellarin's website, windsorsolareclipse.com, for more information about the eclipse, how to watch it, and where to buy eclipse glasses.
For details about eclipse viewing parties and other events, check out the Tourism Windsor Essex Pelee Island website.