A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon casts a shadow over the Earth while it comes between the Earth and the Sun, this time it has chosen February 26, 2017, as the day to do so. It is a natural phenomenon, but in India, people consider it a supernatural event, which occurs under the influence of some bad omen.
Where it is visible:
The annular solar eclipse of February 26, 2017, will be visible in South and West Africa, South American regions, the Pacific, Atlantic and the Indian Ocean, and Antarctica. After February’s eclipse, the next solar eclipse will be visible from North America on Aug. 21. It will sweep across the continental United States from Oregon to Georgia.
Why it occurs:
A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partly obscuring the image of the Sun to a viewer on Earth.
Types of solar eclipses
Total: It occurs somewhere on Earth about every 18 months. Here the new moon can appear to completely blot out the disk of the sun.
Annular: Hear the Sun looks like an annulus; it is when the Moon’s apparent diameter is smaller than the Sun’s and blocks most of the Sunlight.
Partial: Here a part of the sun always remains in view during the eclipse. It occurs only in the penumbra (the partial shadow) passes over you.
Hybrid: This special type of eclipse occurs when the moon’s distance is near its limit for the umbra to reach Earth.
According to researchers, a new moon aligns itself in a way to eclipse the sun at least twice in a year. Whether the eclipse is total, annular or a hybrid is determined by Earth’s distance from the sun. Data shows that of all solar eclipses, about 28 percent are total; 35 percent are partial; 32 percent annular, and just 5 percent are hybrids.
