A rare, once-in-a-decade hybrid solar eclipse will occur on Thursday 20th April.
While Exmouth in Western Australia will be the only place in Australia to experience a total solar eclipse, the rest of Australia will experience a partial eclipse.
The total eclipse will occur from 11:29:48 am – 11:30:46 am (AWST), and the partial eclipse will occur from 10:04:31 am – 1:02:34 pm (AWST). So the eclipse will kick off in SA at around 1:30pm.
The total solar eclipse means the Sun will be completely blocked out for 58 seconds before it reappears, and the partial eclipse will happen on either side of this. Up to 25,000 stargazers from all over the world are expected to travel to Exmouth to witness this astronomical milestone.
Hybrid eclipses make up only about 3% of all solar eclipses. The last hybrid eclipse anywhere in the world was on 3 November 2013, and the next is not until 14 November 2031.
Between 2 and 5 solar eclipses happen every year, casting shadows on different parts of the Earth each time. This event is the first, and shortest, of 5 eclipses that will happen over Australia in the next 15 years.
The next eclipse, on 22 July 2028, will be a total eclipse that cuts a path down from the Kimberley across to Sydney.
TIMINGS
- Perth: 11:20:30 pm (AWST), 71% of the sun will be covered
- Adelaide: 1:30:02 pm (ACST), 21% of the sun will be covered
- Darwin: 1:52:28 pm (ACST), 81% of the sun will be covered
- Hobart: 2:06:56 pm (AEST), 5% of the sun will be covered
- Melbourne: 2:09:05 pm (AEST), 11% of the sun will be covered
- Canberra: 2:22:10 pm (AEST), 10% of the sun will be covered
- Sydney: 2:28:56 pm (AEST), 10% of the sun will be covered
- Brisbane: 2:44:56 pm (AEST), 16% of the sun will be covered.
Remember, it is not safe to directly look at the sun, particularly during a partial solar eclipse or the partial phase of a total eclipse, without using proper eye protection.
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