Rare hybrid solar eclipse set to occur on April 20

This year’s eclipse season will start with a bang with a hybrid solar eclipse on April 20, 2023 from 7.04 a.m. to 12.29 p.m. IST.

The celestial phenomenon will only be seen in a few regions in Western Australia, East Timor and Eastern Indonesia making their viewers all geared up for a show of a lifetime.

This rare astronomical event is commonly known as a hybrid eclipse since it will shift from a total eclipse to an annular solar eclipse as the moon’s shadow moves over earth and has only come to pass seven times in the 21^st century. The last hybrid eclipse occurred nearly 10 years ago on November 03, 2013, whereas the next hybrid solar eclipse will occur in November 2031.

For some locations in the solar eclipse’s narrow path on the world, viewers will observe a whole solar eclipse, in the meantime, in other parts; they will view a ring-like annular solar eclipse. Either way, the moon will pass between the Earth and the sun, blocking out all or most of the sun’s light falling on the Earth’s surface.

Whilst being visible only to 8.77 percent of the world’s population, it will not be directly visible in Sri Lanka. In spite of that, people can observe it live through several websites from other countries,

There are only two locations on Earth that will be able to witness the eclipse transition from annular to total before transitioning back to annular. Yet, these locations are adversely claimed to be in the middle of the ocean. 

Nevertheless, a solar eclipse is always followed by a lunar eclipse and vice versa. The ethereal events generally occur within 35 days of each other during an eclipse season. Even better, every calendar year has two eclipse seasons that makes it three more eclipses in 2023.  

The first eclipse season will end with the Penumbral Lunar Eclipse on May 5, 2023 that will be visible from Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Australia.

The second eclipse season of 2023 will kick off on October 14 with an Annular Solar Eclipse, following the upcoming solar event. It will be visible in parts of the United States, Mexico and several countries in South and Central America.

The 2023 eclipse season will mark the end on October 28 with a Partial Lunar Eclipse which can be seen from Asia, Russia, Africa, America, Europe and Antarctica.