Usually the penumbra gives just a glancing blow to our planet over the polar regions; in such cases, places far away from the poles but still within the zone of the penumbra might not see much more than a small scallop of the sun hidden by the moon. The first place that will see the annular eclipse will be near the town of Impfondo in the northeastern Republic of the Congo, where the annular eclipse begins at 5:47 a.m. local time (12:47 a.m. EDT; 0447 GMT), just a few minutes after sunrise. The positions of stars photographed near the sun’s edge during a total eclipse on May 29, 1919, were compared with photographs of the same region of the sky taken at night; the results strongly supported Einstein’s theory.

Areas outside this track may be able to see a partial eclipse of the Sun. Because the moon circles Earth in an elliptical orbit, its distance from Earth can vary from 221,457 miles to 252,712 miles. Our image of the day, Strange bright rocks reveal glimpse of asteroid Ryugu's violent past. On the average a total eclipse occurs somewhere on Earth about every 18 months. And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: community@space.com.

During those few precious seconds or minutes, the magnificent corona shines forth in all its glory surrounding the darkened sun; a marvelous fringe of pearly white light. Editor's note: The last total solar eclipse occurred on Dec. 26, 2019, and was visible from Saudi Arabia, India, Sumatra and Borneo, with a partial eclipse visible in Australia and much of Asia. Skywatchers across Africa, southeast Europe, Asia and the Pacific will be able to see at least a partial eclipse, with the moon blocking a portion of the sun.

This is caused by diffraction, a property of light. Partial lunar eclipse in 2008 seen in Germany.

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When a planet comes between Earth and the Sun, it is called a transit.
And these alignments don’t happen haphazardly, for after a specific interval of time, an eclipse will repeat itself or return. (Illustration not to scale.). Williams apparently made a crucial error in his computations and inadvertently positioned his men at Islesboro — just outside the path of totality — likely finding this out with a heavy heart when the narrowing crescent of sunlight slid completely around the dark edge of the moon and then started to thicken! How Solar Eclipses Work: When the moon covers up the sun, skywatchers delight in the opportunity to see a rare spectacle. As best as we can determine, the earliest record of a solar eclipse occurred over four millennia ago. Solar eclipse: Stunning images of the phenomenon from around the world Solar eclipse. The first solar eclipse of 2020 arrives on June 21. In the ancient Chinese classic Shujing (or Book of Documents) is the account of Hsi and Ho, two court astronomers who were caught completely unaware by a solar eclipse, having gotten drunk just before the event began. Also known as false dawn, zodiacal lights are rare optical phenomena that occur around sunset and sunrise in early spring and late fall. After this interval, the relative positions of the sun and moon relative to a node are nearly the same as before. Binoculars or a small telescope mounted on a tripod can also be used to project a magnified image of the sun onto a white card. There will be two solar eclipses in 2020. The eclipse in question was that of Oct. 22 in the year 2134 B.C. It is always faint and delicate, with a sheen like a pale aurora.

(Image credit: Karl Tate, SPACE.com Contributor). A partial eclipse will be visible from much of South America and a few countries in the southwest corner of Africa, including Namibia, Angola, Botswana and South Africa.

First things first: yes, you can trust our eclipse times. A solar eclipse occurs when the disk of the moon appears to cross in front of the disk of the sun. But the dark shadow cone of the moon’s umbra can extend out for no longer than 235,700 miles; that’s less than the moon’s average distance from Earth. There are between 2 and 5 solar eclipses every year. It will reach the coast of Chile at 11 a.m. EST (1600 GMT), just 13 minutes before the moment of maximum eclipse.