On Thursday, June 10, 2021, an annular solar eclipse will occur. The zone of annular eclipse takes the form of a long corridor, more than 500 kilometres wide, stretching from Canada to Siberia via the North Pole.
After touching the surface of the Earth at sunrise in Northern Ontario, the Moon’s antumbra will travel northeastward over James’ Bay and the eastern part of Hudson’s Bay, tracing a path over the Hudsonian Shore of Québec to the northernmost tip of the province and the western portion of Ungava Bay. After crossing the Hudson Strait, the path of annularity passes through Baffin Island, Baffin Bay, and onward to Ellesmere Island and the northwestern tip of Greenland. The path of annularity continues on to briefly cover the North Pole and then races back southward across the Arctic Ocean toward Siberia, where it finally leaves the Earth’s surface at sunset.
The annular eclipse will last 3 minutes 37 seconds at the extremities of its trajectory, on the eclipse centreline. At the point of maximum eclipse, located in Nares Strait between Ellesmere Island and Greenland, this duration reaches a theoretical value of 3 minutes 51.2 seconds, with 89% of the surface of the Sun covered by the Moon.
Outside the path of annularity, in Quebec and across most of Canada, we’ll be able to observe a partial eclipse of the Sun. In Canada, the eclipse generally unfolds in the early morning hours, around sunrise or shortly thereafter. In the most populated areas of Québec, in the St. Lawrence Valley, about 79% of the surface of the Sun will be hidden at maximum eclipse, whereas this climbs to 89% inside the path of annularity. The exact times of the eclipse, its duration and maximum coverage of the Sun by the Moon, depend on the specific geographical coordinates of the observer’s location.
For example, in Montréal, the eclipse will begin at 4:43:16 (Eastern Daylight Time), BEFORE the Sun actually rises at 5:10 a.m. When the Sun finally appears above the horizon, the eclipse will already be under way. The partial eclipse will reach its maximum at 5:39:10, with the Moon covering 78.9% of the Sun’s surface, which will stand only 7 degrees above the east-northeast horizon. The phenomenon will end at 6:38:58.
Another example: In Chisasibi, a Cree village located within the path of annularity, the Sun rises at 4:51 a.m. and the eclipse begins shortly thereafter at 4:56:46 EDT. The eclipse becomes annular at second contact (C2) expected at 5:52:46, and will reach its maximum at 5:54:10, with the Sun standing about 7 degrees above the east-northeast horizon and the Moon covering 88.2% of its surface. The annular part of the eclipse ends after 2 minutes and 46 seconds, with third contact (C3) occurring at 5:55:32. The partial phases of the eclipse will conclude at 6:55:01.
Refer to our table giving the local circumstances of the eclipse for dozens of locations across Quebec and Canada.
