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This Thursday/Friday depending on where you live, the Earth will witness a rare astronomical phenomenon known as a Hybrid solar eclipse, which is a rare type of eclipse that combines total eclipse And Annular eclipse, it will be visible in separate parts of the world. different from the path eclipse. Experiencing different phenomena, as it will start annular at the beginning and then become in the middle of its occurrence a total eclipse of the sun


The eclipse will be visible in the southern hemisphere, as the eclipse will start from Western Australia, East Timor, and eastern Indonesia, starting at 01:36 GMT on April 20, and ending at 06:59 GMT, and it will be visible first in the Indian Ocean and then over the Pacific Ocean.


And this will appear as a Hybrid Eclipse. As a total or annular eclipse of the sun when viewed from Western Australia from 02:29 to 02:35 GMT on April 20, in East Timor from 03:19 to 03:22 GMT, and in Indonesia from 03:23 to 03: 58 GMT.


It will also see a total eclipse of the sun from the Exmouth Peninsula in Western Australia, Timor Leste, and West Papua, and there are only two locations on Earth that will be able to watch the transition of the eclipse from the annular to the total before moving back to the annular again, except that these sites are in the middle of the ocean. The last hybrid solar eclipse witnessed by Earth occurred nearly 10 years ago, on November 3, 2013, and the next hybrid solar eclipse will occur in November 2031. US Citizens may also be able to see it from certain areas.


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Why do hybrid solar eclipses occur

It is happening as a Hybrid solar eclipse when the moon is close enough to the shadow to reach the earth and because the earth is curved the moon is at a suitable distance from the earth so that the apex of the conical shadow is slightly above the earth's surface at the beginning and end of the eclipse path, causing the shadow of the anti moon to move across the earth which causes an annular eclipse of the sun, but in the middle of the eclipse path, the top of the moon's shadow hits the surface of the earth because this part of the planet is slightly closer to the moon, so the total eclipse occurs.

Where and when it’s visible in the World:

The Astronomical Research Institute revealed that a Hybrid solar eclipse will appear completely in some parts of the world, as it will appear annular in other parts. The path of the eclipse will start in the southern Indian Ocean and move through parts of western Australia and southern Indonesia where most people will be able to see the partial eclipse. The eclipse can be seen partially in "south and east Asia, the Australian continent, the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and Antarctica."

The annular eclipse will cover an area 49 km wide and will take a period of 1 minute and 16 seconds, and at the peak of the eclipse at 6:16 minutes and 37 seconds, the moon disk will cover about 101.3% of the entire disk of the sun, and it will see in the “Northwest Cape Peninsula and Barrow Island in Western Australia, and eastern parts of East Timor, as well as Damar Island and parts of Papua Province in Indonesia. In Indonesia and Australia, most people will be able to see the partial eclipse.