Today, Malawi and other nations will experience the eclipse of the sun astronomically known as solar eclipse and known in Chichewa as ‘Kadansana’, from around midday officials say.
The solar eclipse will be caused when the moon will come in front of the sun for a short time by slipping directly
between the sun and earth.
It will also in other central and northeast Africa countries, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, northern India, and southern China including Taiwan.
This will be a partial eclipse of the sun astronomically known as an annular eclipse.
“In other words this will not be a total eclipse because instead of completely blocking the sun, there will be a “ring of fire” from the sun and passing squarely across the face of the sun for viewers. This is because the moon will be just a little too far from the Earth to completely cover the disk of the sun. The dark conical shadow of the moon (called the umbra), from where we can see a total eclipse, extends for 379,100 kilometers out into space,” reads a statement signed by Jolam Nkhokwe, Director of the Department of Climate Change and Meteorological Services.
It is said that the moon’s distance from Earth will be 381,500 km from Earth, sso the moon’s dark umbral shadow will fall 2,400 km short of reaching the Earth’s surface resulting in an annular eclipse, making the ring of
light to be exceedingly narrow as the moon’s apparent diameter will be 99.4% as large as that of the sun, so the width of that ring of sunlight at its thinnest will measure no more than six-tenths of one percent of the sun.
Thus a bright ring of the sun’s disk will remain uneclipsed, unfortunately bright enough to prevent a view of the solar corona and keeping the sky just bright enough to suck any view of the stars and most of the planets. The term annular is derived from the Latin word annulus, meaning “ring shaped,” and in recent years, the mainstream media have branded such events as “ring of fire” eclipses.
If the weather cooperates, Malawi and other central and northeast Africa countries, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, northern India, and southern China including Taiwan will enjoy the eclipse.
The department in Malawi has since advised the public that looking directly at that eclipse requires special glasses
to protect the eyes from the sun’s brightness if you observe the eclipse in person.
