IMAGES. This Sunday is marked by an eclipse of type “circle of fire” for a part of the planet that has been able to observe this unusual phenomenon.
From Africa to China, from India, a small part of humanity has had the privilege of attending sneak this Sunday, the summer solstice, a solar eclipse is exceptional of type “ring of fire”. This astronomical phenomenon, which only occurs once or twice a year, began shortly after the rising of the sun in the center of Africa, crossing the democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), South Sudan, Ethiopia, before heading to Asia, to finish in the Pacific ocean, to the south of the island of Guam, having crossed India, and China.
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In this type of eclipse, the Moon passes in front of the Sun, in alignment with the Earth sufficiently perfect to hide it. But not entirely, as during a total solar eclipse : the Moon is not close enough to the Earth, it is an annular eclipse, that is to say, at its maximum, there is a ring around the Sun, called the “ring of fire”.
The circle of fire created by the partial eclipse of the sun captured in Taiwan.
Sam Yeh / AFP
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in Nairobi, Kenya’s capital city, a little away from the right track, the curious have been able to observe a partial eclipse, the clouds that appear for a few seconds at the precise moment when the Moon would have had to come to hide almost entirely the Sun.
The eclipse of type “ring of fire” seen from Kenya this Sunday, June 21. (Photo by YASUYOSHI CHIBA / AFP)
YASUYOSHI CHIBA / AFP
Despite everything, “it was very exciting, because I’m obsessed with eclipses,” said Susan Murabana, founder with her husband Chu of the educational program “Traveling telescope” (the telescope roaming).
Settled with their telescope on the roof of a residential neighborhood, they have observed the eclipse of dozens of people, via the platforms Facebook and Zoom.
List of superstitions
In Sri Lanka, because of the Covid-19, the planetarium has been closed to prevent gatherings. Only a small group of fifteen students was gathered around a telescope of the University of Colombo, the capital, broadcasting live images of the eclipse on Facebook.
“there’s a lot of misinformation around solar eclipses and we try to fight them in our program,” said professor Chandana Jayaratne, who is head of the department of astronomy and space sciences of the university.
The moon partially covering the sun, observed from the Sri Lanka
LAKRUWAN WANNIARACHCHI / AFP
“For example, in Sri Lanka, it is said to pregnant women not to go out, for fear that their baby will be born with heart defects. But we want to show people that an eclipse is nothing other than a play of shadows and light,” he explained.
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On the other hand, experts underline the need to bring special glasses eclipse, masks, welders are certified, or to use the means of observation for amateur astronomers, but not to look at the sun with the naked eye, even with sunglasses, which will not filter out the UV.
The sun almost completely covered by the moon, photographed from New Delhi in India.
Jewel Samad / AFP
In Gulf countries, the observation of the phenomenon was annoyed by the humidity and dust of the summer heat.
In Pakistan, the curious are observing the eclipse through an x-ray.
Aamir QURESHI / AFP
Only 2% of the Earth’s surface were affected by the total phase of the eclipse, which makes the phenomenon unique.
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solar eclipses: when the Moon passes in front of and obscures the Sun
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however, It is less spectacular than a total solar eclipse, where the position of the Moon in the sky corresponds exactly to that of the Sun and causes the night, as was the case above of France in 1999.
