There will be 224 solar eclipses in the 21st century, but only seven of them will be hybrid or annular totality.
Beyond this narrow line the inhabitantsSoutheast Asia, Australia, the Philippines and New Zealand will see a partial solar eclipse similar to what was seen across Europe and the Urals last year.
What are solar eclipses?
Solar eclipses occur when the sun and moonand Earth fully or partially line up. Depending on how they are located and at what distance they are, eclipses may differ. During a solar eclipse, the Moon passes between the Sun and the Earth, casting a shadow on the Earth. This only happens a few times a year because the Moon does not rotate in the same plane as the Sun and Earth. As a rule, this happens twice a year, but there are exceptions.
Full (left), annular (center) andParticularly (left) solar eclipses. Photo: NASA/MSFC/Joseph Matus (total eclipse); NASA/Bill Dunford (Annular Eclipse); NASA/Bill Ingalls (partial eclipse)
A total solar eclipse occurs when the Moonpasses between the Sun and the Earth, completely blocking the Sun from the observer. Viewers who are in the center of the Moon's shadow see the entire disk of the star disappear and the sky darken, as at dawn or sunset. Weather permitting, people in the path of a total solar eclipse may be able to see the sun's corona, the outer atmosphere that is usually lost in the sun's glare.
The Moon's orbit is not a perfect circle:the natural satellite of the Earth is either receding or approaching us. If during a solar eclipse the Moon is at or near the farthest point from the Earth, the satellite cannot completely cover the Sun and annular eclipses occur. During such an event, the Moon looks like a dark disk on top of a large bright disk: at the peak of the eclipse, a luminous ring surrounds the satellite.
Most often (and in more areas) you canobserve a partial solar eclipse. At such moments, for the observer at one point or another, the Sun and the Moon do not line up and only part of the solar disk is covered. During total and annular eclipses, observers who are not on the center line where the moon's inner shadow falls see partial eclipses.
Because the earth's surface is curved, sometimesAn eclipse can change between an annular and a total eclipse as the moon's shadow moves. This is the rarest type of eclipse, which is called hybrid. Such a phenomenon awaits the Earth today.
How will the moon's shadow move during an eclipse?
An animation that shows the movement of the lunar shadow across the Earth's surface during a hybrid eclipse. Animation: Fred Espenak and Michael Zeiler
Hybrid Solar Eclipse Begins April 20as an annular at 5:37 Moscow time in the Indian Ocean, will pass through the north-west of Australia and peak off the coast of East Timur at 7:16. For viewers on sharp Timur, the Sun will be completely covered by the Moon for 1 min 16 sec. After that, the "center" of the eclipse will move towards Indonesia, it will end in the Pacific Ocean at 8:56.
A partial solar eclipse will cover mostterritory: it can be observed in a large part of the territory of Indonesia, Southeast Asia, Australia, New Zealand and even in Antarctica. Partial eclipse in different places will last from 4:34 to 9:59 Moscow time.
Where to watch online?
For those who do not have time to buy a ticket inEast Timur, in order to see the astronomical phenomenon in all its beauty, various observatories promise to conduct a live broadcast of a hybrid solar eclipse. True, the possibilities of observers are limited. There will be only two points along the path of the eclipse where it will be possible to observe the transition of the annular eclipse to total and back, and both of them are far in the ocean. Therefore, observers will basically show a total solar eclipse.
For example, the broadcast will be carried out by the serviceTimeAndDate.com on their YouTube channel. The broadcast will be conducted from the Perth Observatory, located in Western Australia. The live broadcast will begin at 4:30 Moscow time.
Broadcast of the TimeAndDate.com project
The Gravity Discovery Center observatory, also located in Western Australia, will also conduct its own broadcast. This broadcast will begin at 5:00 Moscow time.
Broadcast of a solar eclipse from the Gravity Discovery Center observatory
And from 5:30 a.m. NASA will launch a broadcast using partner telescopes in Australia. Experts from the American space agency will comment on the broadcast.
NASA broadcast of the solar eclipse
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On the cover: total solar eclipse in 2017. Photo: NASA/Aubrey Gemignani