How To Watch Sunday's Rare Hybrid Solar Eclipse

[xchrom]

http://www.businessinsider.com/hybrid-solar-eclipse-november-2013-2013-11


The moon's shadow has two parts: The inner-shadow is known as the umbra and the outer-shadow is known as the penumbra. When the moon's penumbral shadow hits Earth, we see a partial eclipse of the sun. If the moon's umbral shadow, then a total eclipse is visible.

On Sunday, Nov. 3, an annular solar eclipse that changes into a total solar eclipse — called a hybrid eclipse — will be visible on the eastern coast in North America to parts of Africa and the Middle East.

A solar eclipse occurs when the moon passes between the Earth and the sun. When the three line up just right, a portion or all of the sun's light gets blocked by the moon's shadow striking Earth at the same time.

During a total solar eclipse, the moon's dark inner shadow — known as the umbral shadow — strikes Earth's surface and blocks out all of the sun's light in that region. But not all eclipses of the sun are total eclipses. The moon's orbit around Earth also influences what kind of eclipse we see.

In an annular solar eclipse, the moon crosses the sun at its farthest distance from Earth, meaning that from our perspective, the moon isn't big enough to cover the sun completely. "Looking down from space, we would see that the Moon's umbral shadow is not long enough to reach Earth," writes Fed Espenak of MrEclipse.com.



Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/hybrid-solar-eclipse-november-2013-2013-11#ixzz2jUWSWhHK

[In_The_Wind]

1. I'll be awake for it.

If you live in eastern North America, you'll have to get up early to enjoy the show. The partial eclipse will be visible at sunrise — about 6:30 a.m. local time — and last for about 45 minutes, experts say. Viewers in Boston and New York will see the sun more than 50 percent covered by the moon, while our star will appear 47 percent obscured from Miami and Washington, D.C.

[davidpdx]

2. Damn won't be able to see it in Asia

[undeterred]

3. Best place to see it is Uganda.

[muriel_volestrangler]

4. They get the longest totality (on land) in Gabon, on the west coast

Greatest eclipse occurs in the Atlantic at 12:47:36 UT, approximately 330 kilometres southwest of Liberia. At this instant, the axis of the Moon's shadow passes closest to Earth's centre. The maximum duration of totality is 1 minute 39 seconds, the Sun's altitude is 71°, and the path width is 57 kilometres.

Slowly curving to the east, the track just misses Sao Tome and Principe and intercepts the coast of Gabon north of Port-Gentil in the Wonga Wongue Reserve (13:51 UT) where the central line duration is 1 minute 7 seconds and the Sun's altitude is 46°. The Moon's shadow crosses Gabon in 9 minutes and sweeps over the Congo in 7 more. Entering the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the path width is 36 kilometres and the duration is 48 seconds (Figure 6).

The track begins curving to the northeast as it narrows and the duration of totality decreases. By the time the umbra reaches the western border of Uganda, totality drops to 23 seconds with the Sun at 18° (14:22 UT). Sweeping over northern Kenya, the path crosses Lake Turkana where the central line duration is 14 seconds at 14:25 UT.

In its final 2 1/2 minutes, the lunar shadow races across southern Ethiopia before leaving Earth's surface in Somalia where a 1 second total eclipse occurs at sunset.

http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/OH/OH2013.html#SE2013Nov03H