More details about are hybrid solar eclipse to occur on Sunday
A rare hybrid solar eclipse, which will be seen as ring-shaped in some parts of its path and a total eclipse in others, will occur on Sunday.
According to the US space agency NASA, the hybrid eclipse will be visible from a corridor covering the North Atlantic and equatorial Africa, while a partial eclipse will be seen in eastern North America, northern South America, southern Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Hybrid eclipses are rare occurrences-between 1999 BC and 3000 AD, the earth will have experienced 11,898 solar eclipses, out of which only 4.8% would be hybrid solar eclipses, according to NASA. PTI
In its final 2-1/2 minutes, the lunar shadow will pass over southern Ethiopia before leaving earth's surface over Somalia where a one-second total eclipse will occur at sunset.
Solar eclipses are mostly partial, annular (where the moon does not completely cover the sun because of its smaller size, forming a ring of light) or total. A total solar eclipse has not been seen this year.
Hybrid eclipses are rare occurrences-between 1999 BC and 3000 AD, the earth will have experienced 11,898 solar eclipses, out of which only 4.8% would be hybrid solar eclipses, according to NASA. The last hybrid solar eclipse was in April 2005, and the next will occur in 2023.
However, Sunday's eclipse is even more unique because it begins as an annular and ends as a total eclipse. 'In this case, the distance between the moon and the earth varies as time flows through the day. When the eclipse starts, the moon will be positioned in a way so that it is annular. As the moon travels through its daily course of rotation, it will become a total eclipse when it comes closer to the earth,' said C.B. Devgun, president of New Delhi-based non-government organization SPACE.
Over the course of 3.3 hours, the moon's shadow will travel along a path approximately 13,600 kilometres long covering 0.09% of Earth's surface area.
The path of the moon's shadow will begin in the North Atlantic approximately 1,000 km east of Jacksonville, US, and as it moves forward, the foue km-wide path will shrink and the eclipse will become total.
'The major landmass that will come under shadow will be Africa. By the time the eclipse ends, India will not be able to see it,' Devgun said.
Solar eclipses are important occurrences for astronomers and space researchers as they provide an opportunity to study the sun's makeup and characteristics, aided by a natural hindrance to the usual brightness of the sun.