This Sunday early birds will get an unusual celestial treat. The Sun while come up over the eastern horizon in state of partial eclipse.
"It'll be a weird and dramatic spectacle, if your east horizon is clear," Robert Naeye, Editor in Chief of Sky & Telescope magazine said in a statement. "Here's a chance to take some amazing photos."
The eclipse will be easy to see from Africa, the Middle East, southern Europe, the Caribbean, and Northern South America. The eastern U.S. and Canada will also have a chance to view the event, but it could be more difficult. People living in this region that wish to see the eclipse should make sure they have an "open view" of the eastern horizon.
Scientists are calling the event a "hybrid" eclipse, and it is fairly unusual. The moon will move directly across the center of the Sun. The eclipse is called a hybrid because it will begin as an annular (a thin ring of the Sun showing all around the Moon), and will finish as a total eclipse.
"We're hoping to see 11 seconds of totality. That's not very long -- no time to be fumbling with camera settings! -- but we should be rewarded with astounding views of Baily's beads and long crimson arcs of the Sun's chromosphere." That's if the weather permits. "Wish us luck!" Sky & Telescope's contributing editor J. Kelly Beatty, who is located in Kenya, said.
Those who do catch the phenomenon will see a Sun that appears as if it has a giant bite taken out of its bottom. The "bite" is actually an outline of this month's new Moon. The bite will get smaller and smaller as the Sun rises, and should be invisible after about 45 minutes.
"I'll be out bright and early," says Alan MacRobert, a senior editor of Sky & Telescope in Cambridge, Massachusetts. "I've got a hillside scouted out with a good view of where the Sun comes up."
Those who live further inland could potentially still see the eclipse, but it will be shorter and less dramatic. This is relevant to residents of "southern Ontario, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, and the Florida Panhandle."
It is important to view the eclipse through a "safe solar filter" to protect the eyes. The news release recommends photographing the phenomenon with a "telephoto lens (100- to 500-mm focal length)."
Missing the Nov. 2 event won't be missing a once-in-a-lifetime chance. On Oct. 23 2014 another partial eclipse will be visible throughout most of North America excluding New England.
A long-awaited total eclipse of the Sun will be visible in most of the U.S. on Aug. 21 2017.
WARNING: In North America daylight savings time ends at 2 a.m. on Sunday morning in each time zone. Those wishing to see the eclipse should make sure to use standard time.
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