U.S., Europe, Africa to Witness Hybrid Solar Eclipse on Halloween Weekend (VIDEOS)
YouTube/CatesChannel2000
Outlined images of witches riding a broomstick may not be visible to some people this Halloween weekend as a rare hybrid solar eclipse happens on Nov 3, Sunday.
The rare solar eclipse would be seen in parts of the U.S., Africa and Europe when the moon blocks the sun partially or fully, depending on the location of the viewer. The total eclipse would be seen in west Africa, while the partial eclipse would be viewed in the U.S. and Europe.
It is a hybrid because the eclipse appears very briefly as an annular or ring eclipse at the beginning and then it becomes a brief total eclipse later.
YouTube/Kurdistan Planetarium
NASA, which these solar phenomenon, said the greatest part of the eclipse would happen at 1237 GMT over the Atlantic Ocean, about 330 kilometres southwest of Liberia. Gabon, in west Africa, will have a peak viewing of the total eclipse when it sweeps over an area almost 60 kilometres wide. The sun will be blocked out for about one minute at around 130 GMT, the peak of the solar eclipse best seen in central Gabon.
In northern Kenya, it would last about 10 seconds.
The International Astronomic Union said, quoted by NDTV, "The eclipse will then continue across Africa through the Congos until it passes through northern Uganda and northern Kenya, ending in southern Ethiopia and Somalia.
If the weather cooperates, parts of Spain, Italy and Greece would witness partial phases of the eclipse, while residents of eastern United States could catch the partial eclipse at 6:30 am in the Eastern Standard Time Zone (1130 GMT).
Experts warned eclipse enthusiasts not to look directly at the sun during the event unless they use special glasses used by welders or view it indirectly using a pinhole filter. Regular sunglasses would not provide sufficient protection.
YouTube/EducationWorld99099
Those who would use a pinhole filter, which is a 3-millimetre hole in one piece of paper, must turn their back to the sun and use the pierced page to project the image of the sun on a second sheet of paper.
