Rare Hybrid Solar Eclipse to Occur on Diwali day!!

Rare Hybrid Solar Eclipse to Occur on Diwali day!!

A total solar eclipse will occur on November 3, 2013. It is a hybrid eclipse (A hybrid eclipse (also called annular/total eclipse) shifts between a total and annular eclipse. At certain points on the surface of Earth it appears as a total eclipse, whereas at other points it appears as annular. Hybrid eclipses are comparatively rare) of the Sun.

This final eclipse of 2013 is the most interesting eclipse of the year. It is one of the rare hybrid or annular/total eclipses in which some sections of the path are annular while other parts are total. The duality comes about when the vertex of the Moon's umbral shadow falls on Earth's surface at some locations, but falls short of the Earth along other sections of the path. The unusual geometry is due to the curvature of Earth's surface that brings some geographic locations into the umbra while other positions are more distant and enter the antumbral rather than umbral shadow. In most cases, the central path begins annular, changes to total for the middle portion of the track, and reverts back to annular towards the end of the path.

However, November 3 eclipse is even more unique because the central path begins annular and ends total. Because hybrid eclipses occur near the vertex of the Moon's umbral/antumbral shadows, the central path is typically quite narrow.

The hybrid eclipse of 2013 is visible from within a thin corridor, which traverses the North Atlantic and equatorial Africa. A partial eclipse is seen within the much broader path of the Moon's penumbral shadow, which includes eastern North America, northern South America, southern Europe, the Middle East and Africa. When the shadow leaves earth, it will be Somalia where a 1 second total eclipse occurs at sunset!!

Totality will be visible from the northern Atlantic Ocean (east of Florida) to Africa (Gabon (landfall), R. Congo, DR Congo, Uganda), with maximum of 1 minute and 39 seconds visible from the Atlantic Ocean south of Ivory Coast and Ghana. This eclipse will not be visible at all from India.

PATH OF ECLIPSE

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ANIMATION SHOWING THE ECLIPSE