Tomorrow (Monday, April 8th) is the big solar eclipse. REMEMBER! Looking directly at the sun can blind you unless you have special eclipse filter glasses to protect you. It’s only safe to look directly at the sun during totality; you must use protection immediately before and after! (…unless you actually want to damage your eyes, in which case I accept no responsibility.)
Please be sure your eclipse filters are genuine, there are fakes on the market that are unsafe. Genuine Eclipse glasses should have the name and address of the company that made them and the company that tested them printed right on them. They should also say they are ISO #12312-2 certified. If any of that is missing, especially if they imply that they’re ISO certified but don’t actually say so, that’s a sign that they’re fakes. Giving the sun a glance in advance through your eclipse glasses shouldn’t hurt; if it does, they’re fakes.
You can substitute a welding mask, but you need a shade 13 or 15 filter lens. Welding supply stores usually special order those, so if you don’t already have one, it’s probably too late. (It might not hurt to call around and ask, though.)
If you wear prescription glasses, simply slip the eclipse glasses over them. Even with eclipse glasses, watching the show without breaks is not a good idea. If nothing else, you’ll get a sore neck! Two to four minutes at a time should do. And yes, looking directly at the sun during totality is safe. You will need protection immediately before and after.
You’ve probably heard that the GTA is almost but not quite in the path of totality; Toronto will get 99% at about 3:19 PM. Use Eclipse glasses for the whole thing. Hamilton is the nearest city on the path. Niagara Falls is deeper in the path, but it will be a zoo and not the good kind. Kingston is also on the path if you have the day off, and I hear of fewer people planning on going there.
- In Hamilton, the eclipse will start at 2:03 PM, reach totality at about 3:19 PM and end at 4:31 PM. Totality will last for nearly two minutes.
- In Kingston, the eclipse will start at 2:09 PM, reach totality between 3:22 PM and 3:25 PM and end at 4:34 PM. Totality will last for just over three minutes.
- Burlington (3:26 PM for over 3.3 minutes) and Fort Erie or anywhere in Niagara-On-The-Lake (3:20 PM for 3.75 minutes) are also in the path of totality if you can get there.
At the time of writing, the weather forecast for April 8th is a mix of sun and clouds with a high near 11ºC.
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