The first eclipse of the year will be an annular solar eclipse. The eclipse will begin at 13:56 on February 17 and end at 18:27, the Shamakhi Astrophysical Observatory told APA.
This eclipse, whose maximum phase will occur at 16:12, will mainly be observed over Antarctica. Since the type of eclipse depends on the observer’s location, it will be visible in Argentina, Madagascar, South Africa, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Namibia, the Seychelles, Mozambique, Chile, Botswana, Malawi, Zambia, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, Mauritius, Réunion, Lesotho, and several other countries.
Eclipses occur when the Earth or the Moon passes in front of the Sun and partially or completely blocks its light. The angle between the plane of the Earth’s orbit and that of the Moon’s orbit is only 5°09′. An eclipse takes place when the new moon or full moon phase coincides with the orbital nodes. An additional condition for a solar eclipse is that the apparent angular sizes of the Moon and the Sun in the sky are nearly the same.
During a solar eclipse, the Moon passes between the Sun and the Earth, preventing the Sun’s rays from reaching the Earth. As a result, the Moon’s shadow forms over certain parts of the Earth’s surface, and the eclipse is observed. A solar eclipse occurs only during the new moon phase.
Depending on the relative positions of the Moon, Earth, and Sun, solar eclipses are classified as total, annular, partial, or hybrid. The maximum duration of the total phase of a solar eclipse is approximately seven minutes. This limitation is related to the relatively small area of the Earth’s surface covered by the Moon’s shadow.
As an observer moves from the shadow into the penumbra, the percentage of the Sun’s disk covered by the Moon decreases, and instead of a total eclipse, a partial solar eclipse is observed. In a partial eclipse, the percentage of coverage also depends on the geographical location of the observer.
Note that this eclipse will not be visible from Azerbaijan. The next eclipse will be a total lunar eclipse on March 3.
