What you need to know about the eclipse in Quebec
CBC
Do you enjoy when celestial bodies block out the sun for a few minutes? Then you're in for a treat on Monday when the total eclipse comes to a solar system near you.
There's one caveat: You have to live along or travel to a narrow strip of land that's a mere 200 kilometres wide if you want to see it.
But if you live in southern Quebec and the forecast for sunny weather holds up, you won't have to go far.
Just make sure to pop on a pair of special glasses before staring at the sun.
Below, you will find more information about the eclipse — including how to view it safely and how to get your hands on eclipse glasses if you haven't already — and answers to any other questions you may have about this upcoming phenomenon.
"A total eclipse of the sun happens about every 18 months on average," said Joe Rao, former chief meteorologist and science editor at News 12 in New York.
That may sound like a lot, but that doesn't mean everybody will see each eclipse. If you happen to live in the path of an eclipse, Rao said, "congratulations, you hit the lottery."
"Because for a specific spot, a city or town to be in the zone of totality, on average a total eclipse will come to you once every 375 years," he said.
According to Montreal's Espace pour la vie, the last total solar eclipse visible from Montreal, Chisasibi and Sherbrooke occurred on August 31, 1932.
The last total solar eclipse occurred on parts of the Gaspé Peninsula on July 10, 1972 and in 1963 an eclipse was visible from the Mauricie region.
Canadians will have to wait 20 years for the next total eclipse, and that will be mainly visible in the Northwest Territories and Alberta, according to the Canadian Space Agency (CSA).
In Quebec, it won't be visible again until 2106, the CSA says. However, partial solar eclipses, as well as total and partial lunar eclipses, take place regularly in Canada.
Rao travelled to Cap-Chat, Que., for his first eclipse in 1972 when he was 15. He says the spontaneous trip with his grandparents was a catalyst for his career. He's since seen 13 total solar eclipses, the last of which was in Antarctica.
"You see the sun suddenly appear like a glowing eye in the sky, the grand and glorious outer atmosphere of the sun, the corona streaming outward, ragged at the edge, streaks running through it — almost kind of like the same kind of light that you see during an aurora or northern lights," said Rao.
