British Columbians will get the chance to see a rare solar eclipse Sunday.
The event will begin across the globe in eastern Asia, where, weather permitting, early risers in southern China, northern Taiwan, and southeast Japan will be able to take in the solar spectacle early on Monday morning.
Eric Briggs of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada says British Columbian will be able to see more than 50 per cent of the sun covered by a wide arc of the moon's shadow.
Someone in Montreal, however, might just be able to glimpse a tiny bite taken out of the sun just as it sets across the horizon. Torontonians will be able to see about 10 per cent of the sun blotted out at dusk.
"It will look more interesting the further west you get," Briggs says. "You see sort of a semi-circular wedge taken out of the sun."
The last time many Canadians took in a similar event was in May 1994, when an annular eclipse tracked a path over part of the country, says Briggs.
"These eclipses repeat every 18 years and 10 and a bit days," he says.
But experts are warning people to make sure they view the eclipse with the right equipment.
"You should never look at the sun directly, even if it is eclipsed," says Trevor Prentice, a staff scientist at the Telus World of Science in Edmonton.
"It can damage your eyes and create permanent blindness or, in the best case scenario, you might an image of the sun on your retina for the rest of your life."
Regular sunglasses, smoked glass, exposed photographic film, dark garbage bags and binoculars or telescopes without proper filters will not protect eyes during a solar eclipse and are unsafe to use.
Special metal coated solar viewing glasses, which are being handed out by some observatories or are on sale at many science centres, are a safe way to watch the partial eclipse.
Number 14 welding filter glass can also be used to take in the event safely as the dark green glass filters out much of the visible light and all of the harmful invisible radiation. It can be obtained from most welding supply stores.
Those with a telescope or binoculars can obtain solar filters they can place at the front of their equipment before the light enters the device.
And for those who can't get their hands on any of that equipment, a simple home-made solution is available as well. A pinhole camera can be created with two pieces of white cardboard by cutting a small hole in the middle of one and covering it with aluminium foil. After pricking a tiny hole in the foil and facing away from the sun, the two pieces of cardboard can be held up so the sun's image shines through the pinhole onto the other sheet
