It’s a great week for astronomy lovers.

Two major celestial events – the annual Perseid meteor shower and a solar eclipse – are set to give skywatchers plenty of reasons to look up.

The shower, which peaks on Wednesday night, will be visible around the world but is best seen in dark skies far from city lights.

The solar eclipse, a daytime event, also falls on Wednesday. It will be a total eclipse in some parts of Western Europe – meaning the moon will pass in front of the sun and fully block its light for a minute or two.

A partial version of the eclipse will be visible more widely, including in much of Canada, where viewers will need appropriate protection to safely observe the partly obscured sun.

Canadians had a front row seat the last time Earth experienced a total solar eclipse. That event took place on April 8, 2024, when much of the central and eastern parts of the country were plunged into midday darkness.

This time, the path of the total eclipse begins in the High Arctic, briefly touching the coast of Siberia before brushing past the North Pole and then racing down the northeast side of Greenland. The path then crosses to Iceland, where the capital, Reykjavik, will be the first large city immersed in the moon’s shadow. It’s near Iceland that totality will last longest – about 2 minutes and 18 seconds.

From there, the path of the eclipse heads southward over the Atlantic until it finally intersects the north coast of Spain. It then bends east and hits water again at Spain’s Mediterranean coast south of Barcelona, before finishing off as a sunset spectacle for viewers on Majorca and neighbouring islands.

In Canada, the partial eclipse will be far less dramatic.

The best views will be in the far North, including Iqaluit, which will see about 70 per cent of the sun covered at maximum eclipse, around 1:24 p.m. local time.

For population centres in the south, the eclipse will be much less obvious. Here are the particulars for selected cities across the county where the eclipse will be visible. (All times local).

It is never safe to stare at the sun directly. The best way to watch an eclipse is with ISO-approved viewing glasses, which are typically made with reflective Mylar or with black, light-absorbing polymer. Many such glasses were handed out in Canada during the eclipse of 2024. If using such a pair, be sure to check for damage, including scratches or holes, to avoid direct sunlight in the eyes.

A partial eclipse can also be viewed indirectly by projecting the sun’s light through a small hole onto a screen, such as a piece of white cardboard.

The eclipse also makes a good setup for the other astronomical event this week, the Perseid meteor shower. While the shower is active all week, it will be at its most intense on Wednesday evening when the rate at which meteors appear is likely to peak.

Meteors are glowing embers of interplanetary dust particles that streak across the sky as they burn up in the atmosphere. When Earth barrels through an entire cloud of such particles all at once the result is a shower.

Novice skywatchers should take note that the word “shower” can be somewhat misleading. Although the Perseid shower is among the most active and reliable of the year, even under ideal conditions it yields an average of about one to two meteors a minute under ideal conditions, often with long gaps between bursts of action.

In other words, if your goal is to see more than a handful of meteors, be prepared to put in the hours and keep watching.

The best way to experience the shower it is to find a dark, open area with a view of the entire sky. Then lie back on a sleeping bag or chaise longue and look up. If skies are clear the meteors will start showing up, particularly after midnight when Earth turns you toward the oncoming meteor stream.

While the Perseids are an annual event, this week’s shower promises to be a particularly good one in part because there will be no moon in the sky.

Without the interference of moonlight, the night sky will be at its absolute darkest. If your observing site is free of artificial light then you’ll have excellent contrast that allows fainter meteors to show up more readily.

Since a solar eclipse requires the moon to be in the same part of the sky as the sun during the day, it automatically means there will be no moon visible that same night.

And while it’s pure coincidence that the eclipse and meteor shower are occurring simultaneously, it’s worth taking advantage of the favourable timing to enjoy a rare astronomical double bill.