Hybrid Solar Eclipse 2023: Date, time, meaning and how to watch rare phenomenon
WESTERN AUSTRALIA, EAST TIMOR, AND INDONESIA: A hybrid solar eclipse, considered to be a rare astronomical phenomenon, is taking place on Thursday, April 20, and is visible from the North West Cape peninsula and Barrow Island in Western Australia, eastern parts of East Timor, and parts of the province of Papua in Indonesia. This type of solar eclipse only takes place a few times per century and occurs when the moon’s distance is near its limit for the umbral shadow to reach Earth, which has a curved surface, as per Space.com.
Although there are between two and five solar eclipses every year, only 3.1% (7 out of 224) solar eclipses are hybrid in nature, the outlet reported. The last hybrid solar eclipse took place on November 3, 2013, and was visible as a total solar eclipse in central Africa, including northern Kenya and Uganda, Congo, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, as per the publication. The current eclipse will begin as an annular eclipse, change to a total eclipse, and will become an annular eclipse again, allowing viewers in Western Australia, Timor-Leste, and Papua in Indonesia to see a hybrid eclipse. Meanwhile, it will allow those in Southeast Asia, East Indies, Australia, the Philippines, and New Zealand to see a partial solar eclipse, according to Earth Sky. This will also be the first solar eclipse of 2023.
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What is a Hybrid Solar Eclipse?
A hybrid solar eclipse is a phenomenon when an eclipse shifts “between annular and total as the moon’s shadow moves across the globe” due to the curved surface of the Earth, as per NASA. There are a total of four types of eclipses — partial, annular, total, and hybrid. A partial solar eclipse takes place when the moon creates a shadow over the Earth by blocking out part of the sun while passing between the sun and the Earth. The Sun, Moon, and Earth are not perfectly lined up during this phenomenon.
An annular solar eclipse takes place when the moon blocks the center of the sun and leaves a circle of light around the edge, often dubbed the “ring of fire.” During this phenomenon, the moon is farther away from the Earth, appears smaller than the sun, and does not completely cover its surface. Meanwhile, a total solar eclipse takes place when the moon passes between the sun and Earth and completely blocks the view of the sun. The fourth type of eclipse, a hybrid solar eclipse, takes place during the combination of an annular and a total social eclipse, making it one of the rarest phenomena.
Viewers at different points in the eclipse path can experience different phenomena during a hybrid solar eclipse, Space.com reports. Someone watching the eclipse at midday may experience it in totality, while someone watching it at sunrise or at sunset may see a “ring of fire.” It is impossible to watch both an annular and a total solar eclipse during a hybrid event, the publication notes.
When will it take place this year?
The hybrid solar eclipse 2023 began at 9.36 pm EDT on April 19 (0136 GMT on April 20) and will continue for a duration of 199 minutes, according to Space.com and Earth Sky. As per reports, the eclipse will transition over Western Australia, East Timor, and Indonesia from 9.36 pm EDT on April 19 and end at 2.59 am EDT on April 20. The phenomenon will reportedly be seen from 10.29 pm to 10.35 pm EDT in Western Australia, from 11.19 pm to 11.22 pm EDT in East Timor, and from 11.23 pm to 11.58 pm EDT in Indonesia.
The partial eclipse begins at 1.34 UTC and ends at 6.59 UTC on April 20 while the central (hybrid) eclipse begins at 2.37 UTC and ends at 5.56 UTC on April 20, according to Earth Sky. The greatest eclipse takes place off the coast of Timor at 4.16.47 UTC on April 20 and will have a 1 minute and 16 seconds of totality, the outlet notes. At the maximum eclipse, the sun will be 1.02657 percent covered by the moon with an eclipse magnitude of 1.0132. The moon’s central shadow will traverse an 8,574-mile-long (13,800-km-long) track covering 0.07% of Earth’s surface area over the course of 3 hours and 19 minutes, the publication reports.
How to watch the Hybrid Solar Eclipse 2023?
The hybrid solar eclipse will take place in America on April 19 but it will not be visible. Australia, Timor-Leste, and Indonesia (West Papua and Papua) will watch the eclipse on April 20. A partial solar eclipse will be visible in Southeast Asia, East Indies, Australia, the Philippines, and New Zealand on April 20, as per Earth Sky. People can watch the phenomenon from their respective locations online. YouTube channels like TimeAndDate.com will livestream at 9.30 pm EDT on April 19 while Gravity Discovery Centre & Observatory will livestream at around 10.00 pm EDT on April 19, as per Space.com.