1
00:00:00,320 --> 00:00:04,900
On Monday, April 8, North America will experience a total eclipse of the heart.

2
00:00:04,900 --> 00:00:07,060
Oh, no, wait, that's Bonnie Tyler.

3
00:00:07,060 --> 00:00:09,380
Total eclipse of the Sun.

4
00:00:09,380 --> 00:00:13,040
This is a phenomenon in which the moon passes directly in front of the Sun,

5
00:00:13,040 --> 00:00:16,600
blocking out its light and turning day for a few minutes into night.

6
00:00:16,600 --> 00:00:19,440
A solar eclipse should not be confused with a lunar eclipse,

7
00:00:19,440 --> 00:00:21,980
which is where the moon gets into the shadow of the Earth.

8
00:00:21,980 --> 00:00:25,670
Making the moon look reddish or rusty brown.

9
00:00:25,670 --> 00:00:30,720
It's cool, but you can usually see one or two a year from almost anywhere.

10
00:00:30,720 --> 00:00:34,560
Solar eclipses are much more rare and much more spectacular.

11
00:00:34,560 --> 00:00:37,760
The reason for them is a cool cosmic coincidence.

12
00:00:37,760 --> 00:00:40,260
The Moon is about 3,500 kilometers across,

13
00:00:40,260 --> 00:00:43,060
and 384,000 kilometers from the Earth.

14
00:00:43,060 --> 00:00:45,660
The Sun 1.4 million kilometers across,

15
00:00:45,660 --> 00:00:48,300
and about 150 million kilometers away.

16
00:00:48,300 --> 00:00:51,700
What this means is that the moon is 400 times smaller than the sun,

17
00:00:51,700 --> 00:00:55,890
but also 400 times closer when they line up in the sky.

18
00:00:55,890 --> 00:00:58,170
Not only does the moon perfectly cover the sun,

19
00:00:58,170 --> 00:01:01,030
it leaves just enough space at the edge to see the corona,

20
00:01:01,030 --> 00:01:03,570
the wispy edge of the sun's outer atmosphere,

21
00:01:03,570 --> 00:01:06,230
normally invisible in the glare from the sun itself.

22
00:01:06,230 --> 00:01:08,490
If the moon were any bigger or closer,

23
00:01:08,490 --> 00:01:11,390
we'd lose the corona any smaller or further away,

24
00:01:11,390 --> 00:01:12,730
and it wouldn't cover the whole Sun.

25
00:01:12,730 --> 00:01:15,170
In fact, an annular eclipse is when the moon is

26
00:01:15,170 --> 00:01:17,670
too far out in its orbit to quite cover the Sun,

27
00:01:17,670 --> 00:01:19,570
leaving a so called ring of fire.

28
00:01:19,570 --> 00:01:22,210
It's cool, but it's not as cool as the total eclipse.

29
00:01:22,210 --> 00:01:24,890
When you'll feel the temperature drop, birds will fall silent,

30
00:01:24,890 --> 00:01:27,870
and people will sometimes just find themselves shouting in awe.

31
00:01:27,870 --> 00:01:32,045
Now on this scale, the moon would be about 9 meters from the Earth, or about 30 feet.

32
00:01:32,045 --> 00:01:34,780
And the sun would be 3.8 kilometers away,

33
00:01:34,780 --> 00:01:36,940
and a little bigger than a hot air balloon.

34
00:01:36,940 --> 00:01:40,820
Now, it's true that almost all of North America will see a partial eclipse,

35
00:01:40,820 --> 00:01:42,660
where the Moon covers a portion of the sun.

36
00:01:42,660 --> 00:01:44,820
But the sun is so bright that even

37
00:01:44,820 --> 00:01:47,720
covering up most of it does very little to that brightness.

38
00:01:47,720 --> 00:01:50,540
Think of a cloudy day. The sun is completely covered by clouds,

39
00:01:50,540 --> 00:01:52,280
but you wouldn't think it was night.

40
00:01:52,280 --> 00:01:57,140
Even in Toronto or the northern part of Montreal where you have 99% coverage,

41
00:01:57,140 --> 00:01:58,520
you won't get the whole show.

42
00:01:58,520 --> 00:02:01,600
The sun is about 400,000 times as bright as the moon,

43
00:02:01,600 --> 00:02:06,320
so if you cover up all but 1% that's as much light as 4,000 full moons.

44
00:02:06,320 --> 00:02:08,380
So it'll get a little dim for a few minutes,

45
00:02:08,380 --> 00:02:09,945
but it won't get completely dark.

46
00:02:09,945 --> 00:02:13,270
Now that all changes inside of what's called the Path of totality,

47
00:02:13,270 --> 00:02:15,630
that's where the moon completely covers the sun.

48
00:02:15,630 --> 00:02:18,490
The path is about 160 kilometers wide and it

49
00:02:18,490 --> 00:02:21,470
moves across the Earth at more than 2,000 kilometers an hour,

50
00:02:21,470 --> 00:02:24,930
meaning on the ground, you'll have three or 4 minutes of darkness.

51
00:02:24,930 --> 00:02:29,510
It makes landfall in Mexico and then travels northeast through Texas,

52
00:02:29,510 --> 00:02:34,350
Arkansas, Indiana, Ohio, and then it crosses over Lake Erie and into Canada.

53
00:02:34,350 --> 00:02:36,010
There it covers St. ⁇ Catherines,

54
00:02:36,010 --> 00:02:37,650
Niagara Falls in that area,

55
00:02:37,650 --> 00:02:40,750
just missing Toronto, passing over Lake Ontario.

56
00:02:40,750 --> 00:02:43,850
And then roughly following the four oh one from Port Hope all the way to

57
00:02:43,850 --> 00:02:47,310
the Quebec border where it will cover the southern part of Montreal.

58
00:02:47,310 --> 00:02:50,585
This all happens at a little after 03:00 P.M. local time.

59
00:02:50,585 --> 00:02:53,620
From there the shadow continues eastward over Sherbrooke,

60
00:02:53,620 --> 00:02:55,600
Quebec, Fredericton, and Miramichi,

61
00:02:55,600 --> 00:02:57,100
New Brunswick, and Summerside,

62
00:02:57,100 --> 00:02:58,560
PEI St. ⁇ John's,

63
00:02:58,560 --> 00:03:00,460
Newfoundland will narrowly miss the show,

64
00:03:00,460 --> 00:03:05,020
but it will fall on a little rock called Eclipse Island near Virgo, Newfoundland.

65
00:03:05,020 --> 00:03:09,520
It got its name from Captain James Cook who was there during an eclipse on August 5,

66
00:03:09,520 --> 00:03:14,150
17, 66, and used the event to calculate his exact position on the Earth.

67
00:03:14,150 --> 00:03:16,880
There are at least two solar eclipses every year.

68
00:03:16,880 --> 00:03:18,960
But because the path of totality is so narrow,

69
00:03:18,960 --> 00:03:20,880
they don't come to the same place very often.

70
00:03:20,880 --> 00:03:23,320
About once every 375 years,

71
00:03:23,320 --> 00:03:24,820
on average for a given spot.

72
00:03:24,820 --> 00:03:28,740
So Toronto's last total eclipse was January 24, 1925.

73
00:03:28,740 --> 00:03:32,480
It's next October 26, 21, 44.

74
00:03:32,480 --> 00:03:34,400
There's another one in 2099,

75
00:03:34,400 --> 00:03:37,000
that just Mrs. the city and the next one anywhere in

76
00:03:37,000 --> 00:03:40,540
Canada isn't even until 2044 in Western Alberta.

77
00:03:40,540 --> 00:03:43,140
Now to view the eclipse, you'll need one of two things.

78
00:03:43,140 --> 00:03:46,900
Eclipse glasses made with special lenses that are darker than any sunglasses.

79
00:03:46,900 --> 00:03:51,300
They carry a certification number, ISO 123122.

80
00:03:51,300 --> 00:03:55,180
And you need that because if you are outside the patho totality,

81
00:03:55,180 --> 00:03:58,720
even looking at a sliver of the sun directly can damage your eyes.

82
00:03:58,720 --> 00:04:01,400
Now if you don't have the eclipse glasses or time to get them,

83
00:04:01,400 --> 00:04:02,760
you can make a pinhole camera,

84
00:04:02,760 --> 00:04:06,200
which is just two sheets of paper or cardboard with a pinhole in one of them.

85
00:04:06,200 --> 00:04:09,660
You line them up so the sun shines through the hole onto the second sheet,

86
00:04:09,660 --> 00:04:12,185
and you get an image of the eclipse in progress.

87
00:04:12,185 --> 00:04:14,570
Now the great thing about totality is

88
00:04:14,570 --> 00:04:16,650
that once the Sun is completely covered by the moon,

89
00:04:16,650 --> 00:04:19,310
you can look at it with the naked eye because there's

90
00:04:19,310 --> 00:04:22,790
basically a giant rock blocking out all the harmful rays of the sun.

91
00:04:22,790 --> 00:04:26,070
The only caveat is that once totality ends in a few minutes,

92
00:04:26,070 --> 00:04:29,450
you've got to put your eclipse glasses back on or you'll damage your eyes.

93
00:04:29,450 --> 00:04:32,530
I haven't mentioned the biggest unknown for eclipses weather.

94
00:04:32,530 --> 00:04:33,910
If it's a cloudy day,

95
00:04:33,910 --> 00:04:35,530
even in the path of totality,

96
00:04:35,530 --> 00:04:37,190
you're going to miss the show.

97
00:04:37,190 --> 00:04:39,990
Historically, Ontario, Southern Ontario has

98
00:04:39,990 --> 00:04:43,290
about a 60% chance of overcast skies on that day.

99
00:04:43,290 --> 00:04:45,550
And it gets a little worse the further east you go.

100
00:04:45,550 --> 00:04:48,790
The best you can do is hope for clear skies.