Hybrid solar eclipse: what is it and how does it arise?
A hybrid solar eclipse is a very rare and strange astronomical event – and one is coming soon on April 20, 2023.
Talk to most eclipse hunters and they will tell you there are three types solar eclipse. The first is a partial eclipse of the most common and the least impressive because the moon blocks only part of the Sun sending a shadow – the penumbra – over a strip of the earth. The second is an annular eclipse, where the moon blocks the center of the sun but leaves a circle of light from the sun visible from a shadow called the antumbra. It is often referred to as a “ring of fire”. The third is a total solar eclipse where the entire solar disk is blocked by the moon, revealing the spectacular sight of the solar corona, which can be observed with the naked eye from the moon’s dark shadow, the umbra.
However, there is an intriguing fourth type of eclipse – a hybrid eclipse – that occurs only a few times per century. It is a combination of the other three types, but it is also impossible to experience in all its glory. Coincidentally, the next solar eclipse to happen Soil will be a hybrid solar eclipse. Here’s everything you need to know about the upcoming hybrid solar eclipse – the rarest, most intriguing, and arguably the most globally spectacular and interesting form of solar eclipse out there.
Related: Solar eclipses 2023: when, where and how to see them
Jamie Carter
WHAT IS A HYBRID SOLAR ECLIPSE?
A hybrid eclipse combines an annular and a total eclipse with the former becoming the latter and then usually returning. Therefore, observers at different points in the eclipse path may experience different phenomena. For example, if you watch a hybrid eclipse at sunrise or sunset, you may see a brief “ring of fire.” When you look at it at noon – that is, in the middle of the eclipse’s path across the Earth’s surface – you experience totality. It is therefore impossible to experience both an annular and total solar eclipse during a hybrid event – you have to make a choice.
Remember, NEVER look at the sun without adequate protection. U.S how to observe the sun safely guide tells you everything you need to know about safe solar sightings. The guide also informs you about the solar targets to watch out for and the equipment needed to do so.
If you want to be all set to see an eclipse, we’ve got guides to the best cameras for astrophotographyand the best lenses for astrophotography. U.S how to photograph a solar eclipse guide will also help you plan your next solar observing adventure.
WHY DO HYBRID SOLAR Eclipses Occur?
Hybrid solar eclipses occur when the distance to the Moon is nearing the limit for the casting shadow to reach the Earth and because The Earth is bent (opens in new tab). The Moon is just the right distance from Earth for the tip of its conical shadow to be slightly above the Earth’s surface at the beginning and end of the eclipse path, causing the Moon’s antumbral shadow to move across the Earth and creating an annular solar eclipse caused . However, in the middle of the eclipse path, the tip of the moon’s shadow falls on the Earth’s surface because that part of the planet is slightly closer to the moon.
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This diagram of a hybrid eclipse shows how the Moon’s distance from Earth determines the shadow cast on the Earth’s surface, from the faint penumbra of a partial eclipse to the deep, dark umbra of totality and the antumbra — a kind of from partial shade — of annularity.
WHEN IS THE NEXT HYBRID SOLAR ECLIPSE?
The next hybrid solar eclipse will occur on April 20, 2023 in the Southern Hemisphere. It will transition from annular to total and back again at two specific points, but both are in remote locations out at sea.
So for all intents and purposes this will be experienced exclusively as a total solar eclipse from the Exmouth Peninsula in Western Australia (up to 1 minute), Timor Leste (1 minute 14 seconds) and West Papua (1 minute 9 seconds). Just before and just after totality, a great display of Baily’s Beads will be visible.
If you want to see the path of the eclipse, along with the eclipse timings for each location, check out this interactive eclipse card by Xavier Jubier (opens in new tab). It’s one of them two solar eclipses in 2023.
WHAT ARE BAILY’S BEADS?
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Named after the English astronomer Francis Baily, who observed them in the early 1800s, Baily’s beads are the last rays of the sun to pass through the moon’s valleys just before totality. They can also be seen as the end of totality. During a hybrid eclipse, the views of Baily’s beads are longer because the moon is almost exactly the same apparent size as the sun.
HOW OFTEN DOES A HYBRID SOLAR ECLIPSE HAPPEN?
There are between two and five solar eclipses per year, though in the 21st century only 3.1% (opens in new tab) (7 out of 224) solar eclipses are hybrid solar eclipses. Between 2000 B.C. Until 3000 AD only 4.8% (opens in new tab) of solar eclipses are hybrid events.
The last hybrid eclipse to occur was on November 3, 2013. It was visible as a total solar eclipse in central Africa, including northern Kenya and Uganda, Congo, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Mid-Atlantic cruise ships also experienced totality, for up to a minute.
WHAT IS ANOTHER NAME FOR A HYBRID SOLAR ECLIPSE?
Hybrid solar eclipses are often mentioned annular total eclipses, “beaded” solar eclipses, or “broken” annular eclipses, the latter two because they have particularly long representations of Baily’s beads.
Because the moon appears to pass directly in front of the sun, hybrid eclipses are classified as “central” eclipses — just like total and annular eclipses — to distinguish them from partial eclipses.
Editor’s Note: If you take a great solar eclipse photo and want to share it with Space.com readers, send your photo(s), comments, and your name and location to [email protected]
Jamie Carter is the editor of WhenIsTheNextEclipse.com (opens in new tab)
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Additional Resources
Discover the different types of solar eclipses in more detail with this informative one NASA article (opens in new tab). Texas State University (opens in new tab) has a helpful list of several videos explaining the different types of eclipses.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bikos, K. (2022, Nov. 13). What is a Hybrid Solar Eclipse? Retrieved on November 13, 2022 from https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/hybrid-solar-eclipse.html (opens in new tab)
Espenak, F. (2007, February 13). Five Millennium Catalog of Hybrid Solar Eclipses. Retrieved on November 13, 2022 from https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEcat5/SEhybrid5.html (opens in new tab)
Jubier, X. (2022, Nov. 13). Five Millennium (-1999 to +3000) Canon of Solar Eclipses Database. Retrieved on November 13, 2022 from http://xjubier.free.fr/en/site_pages/solar_eclipses/5MCSE/xSE_Five_Millennium_Canon.html (opens in new tab)
Nemiroff, R. and Bonnell, J. (November 3, 2013). Astronomy photo of the day. Retrieved on November 13, 2022 from https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap131103.html (opens in new tab)
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