A total eclipse of the sun visible only from the extreme north of the North Atlantic Ocean will take place on Friday. Totality will commence south of Greenland and sweep across the Norwegian Sea, hitting land only at the Faroe Islands and Svalbard and terminating exactly at the North Pole. Iceland, Scotland and Norway will enjoy a partial eclipse of near-totality magnitude, where the sky will get quite dark.
Weather permitting, here in Malta we will see this eclipse as a partial one of magnitude 0.484 (the magnitude of an eclipse is the fraction of the diameter of the eclipsed body which is in eclipse).
One does not need any special equipment to view this event. One can use a piece of welding glass or else make one by smoking heavily a piece of clear glass over the flame of a candle.
However, one should never look directly at the sun because it can damage the retina or lead to blindness. There are special eclipse glasses on the market to view this phenomenon. Ordinary sunglasses, even if they look quite dark, are not good enough.
The last total eclipse took place [over Malta] on August 12, AD603
The best way to watch this eclipse is by projecting an image of the eclipsed sun through a small telescope or binoculars on to a piece of white cardboard. Aim the binoculars or telescope by watching the shadow of the instrument, not by direct viewing.
Locally, the partial phase will start at 9.20am when the sun is at an altitude of 37 degrees. The greatest eclipse will happen at 10.25am when the sun would have reached 47 degrees. Termination takes place at 11.33am with the sun at 53 degrees elevation.
The figure above shows the eclipsed sun at 10-minute intervals during the progression of the eclipse. Only the sun’s partially eclipsed disk will be visible as the only light reaching the lunar near side at that time would be from the earth’s reflection which is insignificant next to the brilliant sunshine.
A total eclipse of the sun at any one place on earth is quite a rare phenomenon. Locally, the last total eclipse took place on August 12, AD603, and next one is due on April 21, 2088. However, a near-total solar eclipse can be observed on August 2, 2027, when the sky will get quite dark. To see a total eclipse on that day you would have to travel to Tunisia or Benghazi where it will be exactly centred. The solar corona which can only be seen (without special instruments) during a total solar eclipse is one of the most wonderful spectacles in nature. It can only be enjoyed from planet earth.
There may be other star systems in our galaxy that may have the same arrangement but none that we know of to date. It is an amazing fact how the sun and the moon look nearly the same size from the earth’s surface considering that the sun’s diameter is about 400 times as large as the moon’s diameter and about 400 times nearer to us. Is it coincidence or creation wisdom?