Solar Eclipse

A solar eclipse occurs when the moon gets between Earth and the sun, and the moon casts a shadow over Earth. A solar eclipse can only take place at the phase of new moon, when the moon passes directly between the sun and Earth and its shadows fall upon Earth’s surface.The alignment produces a total solar eclipse, a partial solar eclipse or an annular solar eclipse.

The last solar eclipse was an annular eclipse on May 9, 2013.

The solar eclipse of January 15, 2010 was an annular eclipse of the Sun with a magnitude of 0.9190. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partly obscuring the image of the Sun for a viewer on Earth. An annular solar eclipse occurs when the Moon's apparent diameter is smaller than the Sun's, blocking most of the Sun's light and causing the Sun to look like an annulus (ring). An annular eclipse appears as a partial eclipse over a region of the Earth thousands of kilometres wide.

It was the longest annular solar eclipse of the millennium, and the longest until December 23, 3043, with a maximum length of 11 minutes, 7.8 seconds. This is about 4 minutes longer than total solar eclipses could ever get. (The solar eclipse of January 4, 1992, was longer, at 11 minutes, 41 seconds, occurring in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.)

The eclipse started in the Central African Republic, traversed Cameroon, DR Congo and Uganda, passed through Nairobi, Kenya, and passed over the Indian Ocean, where it reached its greatest visibility. It then entered Maldives, where it was the longest on land with 10.8 viewable minutes. The annular eclipse at Malé, the capital city of Maldives, started at 12:20:20 and ended at 12:30:06 Maldives local time (UTC+5). This was also the longest duration of any eclipse with an international airport in its track.

The eclipse was visible as only a partial eclipse in much of Africa, Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Asia. It was seen as an annular eclipse within a narrow stretch of 300 km (190 mi) width across Central Africa, Maldives, South Kerala (India), South Tamil Nadu (India), Sri Lanka and parts of Bangladesh, Burma and China.

A total solar eclipse occured on Sunday November 3, 2013. It wass a hybrid eclipse of the Sun with a magnitude of 1.0159. Totality was visible from the northern Atlantic Ocean (east of Florida) to Africa (Gabon (landfall), R. Congo, DR Congo, Uganda, Kenya), with maximum of 1 minute and 39 seconds visible from the Atlantic Ocean south of Ivory Coast and Ghana.

This exceptionally rare occasion of a hybrid solar eclipse occurs when the dark disc of the moon completely blocks the bright light of the sun, preventing its rays from reaching the earth. As a result, a dark shadow is cast on the surface of the earth, with only a faint ring of light seen surrounding the moon's disc.

It has been 547 years since the last hybrid solar eclipse occurred, according to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

To be exact, NASA, the US aeronautics and aerospace research agency, states that it last occurred on March 16, 1466, and that it was only the seventh of its kind since the Messiah Jesus Christ was born.

It was first visible in the southern United States, before sweeping east across the Atlantic Ocean and the African continent.

 

 

The US space agency, NASA, said the greatest total eclipse occurred over the Atlantic Ocean.

In Uganda, hundreds of locals and foreign visitors pitched camp at the strategic Owiny Primary School in Nebbi district to view a rare occurance of a hybrid solar eclipse on Sunday, including President Museveni was the 'chief viewer' at the historical event.

 

Besides Uganda, totality was visible from the northern Atlantic Ocean (east of Florida), Gabon (landfall), R. Congo, DR Congo, South Sudan, Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia. Several other places on the globe had partial darkening.