TORONTO – Astronomy lovers are in for treat with two eclipses occurring within 15 days of each other.
This Sunday, May 20, a partial solar “annular” eclipse will be visible in Asia, over the Pacific, and some parts of the western United States and Canada in the evening.
“On the weekend, the moon will be passing between the earth and the sun,” said Nathalie Ouellette, an observatory coordinator in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, at Queens University.
“The whole eclipse will last a number of hours because the moon is moving over the sun, so it starts off with only a small part of the sun that is blocked out and the moon is progressively moving more and more over the sun until it is centred on the sun,” said Ouellete.
“But because the shadow of the moon is going to be smaller than the sun, part of the sun will still be visible in the form of a ring around the sun”.
Only certain areas will be able to see the eclipse at its peak: when over 90 per cent of the sun’s light is blocked.
Get daily National news
“People west of Quebec should see some form of this eclipse, but the farther west you will be, the more impressive the eclipse will appear,” said Ouellete. “The peak of the eclipse will be in Vancouver at 6:15 p.m. local time.”
“For people in Ontario, it is going to be happening for a number of hours in the evening but the sun will be partially blocked. The sun will look like a crescent moon. It will look like a big bite has been taken out of the sun.”
The next total solar eclipse will occur Nov.13 this year.
Meanwhile on June 5, the planet Venus will pass across the face of the sun and the phenomenon is known as the “transit of Venus.”
“Planet Venus is going to be passing between the Earth and the sun so only a small part of the sun will be blocked. Only a small dot,” said Ouellete.
“It is going to be visible all across Canada but happening at different times. Basically if you are in the southern Ontario region it will be visible from 4 p.m. until sunset.”
Transit of Venus last occurred in 2004.The next time this will happen again will be in 2117.
Meanwhile the University of Toronto’s Dunlap Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics is inviting people to come and observe the transiting of Venus on June 5 at the varsity stadium.
The first 4,000 guests will be provided with transit glasses to enable them look directly at the sun without harming their eyes.
Comments
Want to discuss? Please read our Commenting Policy first.