‘Ring of Fire’ eclipse will give Canadians glimpse of rare celestial event

It's not quite a "total eclipse of the sun," but it's close: Canadians will be able to witness a rare partial solar eclipse this Sunday.

Sky watchers in Asia, the Pacific and the southwestern United States will be able to see a glowing halo, dubbed a "ring of fire" — the technical term is an annular eclipse — whereas those of us further north will have to settle for a partially obscured sun, something that resembles more of a crescent shape.

"What we're going to have is just a partial eclipse, so instead of that ring, it will be almost like a chunk bit out of the sun," Trevor Prentice, a staff scientist at the Telus World of Science in Edmonton, told The Canadian Press.

The last eclipse of its kind was visible in 1994.

Wanting to catch a glimpse of this "celestial spectacle" on Sunday?

British Columbians and Albertans should be able to witness more than 50 per cent of the sun covered by the moon's shadow.

Torontonians will see about "10 per cent of the sun blotted out at dusk."

In Montreal, you'll see just a glimpse of an obstruction of the sun just after 8:00 pm. And in many parts of the Maritimes, the eclipse won't be visible at all as the sun will have set before the eclipse begins.

Check out The Weather Network's video on what to expect here.

Find an outline of the eclipse's visibility schedule, good-weather-permitting, at SPACE.com.

"It will look more interesting the further west you get," Eric Briggs, secretary at the Toronto chapter of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, told The Canadian Press. "You see sort of a semi-circular wedge taken out of the sun."

As is the common eclipse-viewing warning, protect your eyes when staring at the sun — especially as "it could be dimmed and reddened to an unpredictable degree," SPACE.com warns.

Regular sunglasses are unsafe to use, The Canadian Press emphasizes.

Hoping to capture the ring eclipse on camera? Here are some tips on how to safely photograph Sunday's sun.

The next ring eclipse won't be visible in the North America for more than a decade.