"Hybrid" Eclipse! Really!

Celestial Greetings!

Some of you may have already read that a partial solar eclipse will be seen across much of the southern U.S. on Friday afternoon at about 5pm local time. While the eclipse is a partial one for some of us, a few lucky folks sailing off the the western coast of South and Central America will witness a very brief total eclipse. And yet, this solar eclipse is very unusual! Read on!

Because of several astronomical factors involving the distance seperating the Earth and the Moon during the eclipse, in addition to the Earth's curvature, this solar eclipse begins as an annular or ring elipse, changes to a total, and then ends as an annular. This rare kind of solar event is known as a "hybrid" solar eclipse.

In a ring eclipse, the Moon is just barely too far from the Earth to completely cover the entire Sun. From those locations, the Moon appears centered within a ring of sunlight. If the Moon is near enough to the Earth, the entire Sun can be briefly blocked from the sky - a total eclipse. Friday, April 8th's eclipse begins as a ring, briefly becomes total, and ends as a ring. Astronomers call this a "hybrid" eclipse of the Sun!

Sorry, with the exception of a few small and remote islands, no one gets to see this rare "hybrid" solar eclipse except those people who have booked an eclipse cruise. Some of us will see a partial solar eclipse, others none at all.

I thought you might enjoy knowing that even the Sun and the Moon are getting in on the "hybrid" craze!

Astronomy lesson over for today.

Bob Kelley
Scobee Planetarium and soon to be Prius owner.