The last day of April will witness the first solar eclipse of the year. The partial solar eclipse, which is expected to last for over four hours, will occur on April 30. While India will not be able to witness this solar eclipse, countries that can observe the phenomenon may do so between 12:15 pm IST and 2:11 pm IST on Saturday.
Sharing details of the same, NASA has said that the eclipse will be visible over parts of South America including Chile, Argentina, most of Uruguay, western Paraguay, southwestern Bolivia, southeastern Peru, and a small area of southwestern Brazil.
Additionally, the eclipse will also be visible in parts of Antarctica, in the Atlantic Ocean just off South America's southeastern coast including the Falkland Islands, as well as the South Pacific and the Southern Ocean.
A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun. As the upcoming solar eclipse is a partial one, the Moon will partially obscure the Sun as it appears from Earth. As per NASA, this eclipse will see nearly 65 per cent of the Sun covered by the Moon.
As the event cannot be viewed from India, those interested to watch the phenomenon can do so on YouTube.
Timeanddate.com is offering a live blog of the event. Online coverage will be accessible in the days leading up to the eclipse.
The solar eclipse on April 30 will also be coinciding with another celestial event – the second new moon of the month, also known as the Black Moon. Black Moon – which does not have a singular definition – refers to the New Moon phase when the Moon is always “black”.
