A solar eclipse will occur on 20th April 2023 and it is a very rare hybrid solar eclipse, says Professor Chandana Jayaratne, director of the Astronomy and Space Science Unit of the University of Colombo.
He has further stated that the reason for this is that it changes from a total solar eclipse to an annular solar eclipse within the same solar eclipse.
Viewers in some parts of the world in the eclipse's path will see a total eclipse, while those in other parts will observe an annular eclipse.
In both cases, the Moon passes between the Earth and the Sun, and on a lunar day, when the Moon comes between the Earth and the Sun, a solar eclipse occurs in the areas where the Moon's shadow falls on the Earth.
Since the Moon's orbit around the Earth is elliptical, the distance from the Earth to the Moon can vary by about 6% from its average value at different times.
Therefore, the apparent size of the Moon varies with its distance from Earth, and this effect leads to the transition between total and annular eclipses.
According to Sri Lanka Standard Time, the solar eclipse will begin at 7.04 am in the Indian Ocean on April 20 and end at 12.29 pm in the Pacific Ocean.
There are only two places on Earth where you can see a solar eclipse transition from annular to total and back to annular.
However, unfortunately, these two places are located in the middle of the ocean, says Professor Chandana Jayaratne, director of the Astronomy and Space Science Unit of the University of Colombo. Also, this rare solar eclipse is not visible to Sri Lanka as well as many countries in the world.
However, the solar eclipse will be visible to those in Western Australia, East Timor and Eastern Indonesian islands, and foreign media reports that they are ready to see this extremely rare solar eclipse that they can observe only once in a lifetime.
Only 8.77% of the world's population can see this solar eclipse.
Hybrid solar eclipses are very rare and the last hybrid solar eclipse occurred about 10 years ago on November 3, 2013, and the next hybrid solar eclipse will occur in November 2031.
Sri Lanka will not be able to see this hybrid solar eclipse on April 20, but live streaming will be available on NASA websites.
