LIHU‘E — “An exceptionally long total eclipse of the sun” will be partially visible from the Hawaiian Islands before sunset Tuesday, according to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. A portion of the solar system’s hot star will be eclipsed
LIHU‘E — “An exceptionally long total eclipse of the sun” will be partially visible from the Hawaiian Islands before sunset Tuesday, according to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
A portion of the solar system’s hot star will be eclipsed between approximately 5:20 and 6:10 p.m., according to Dr. Gareth Wynn-Williams, professor of Astronomy at the University of Hawai‘i’s Institute for Astronomy.
“You wouldn’t notice it unless you were looking carefully at the sun — with protection, of course,” he said in an e-mail Friday.
The new moon will cover approximately 10 percent of the sun at the time of “deepest eclipse,” says Bishop Museum’s Web site.
The partial eclipse, seen within the broad path of the moon’s faint outer shadow, or penumbra, will be visible in most of eastern Asia, Indonesia and the Pacific Ocean, according to NASA’s calculations.
The rare totality — only occurring within a “narrow corridor” that the moon’s dark inner shadow, or umbra, traverses — will be witnessed Wednesday by those in northern India, eastern Nepal, northern Bangladesh, Bhutan, the northern tip of Myanmar, central China and the Pacific Ocean, including the Ryukyu Islands, Marshall Islands and Kiribat, according to NASA and online sources.
The celestial event is part of a cycle (series 136 of Saros), which included the total solar eclipse visible from the Big Island in July 1991. The duration of the blackout, not visible from Hawai‘i, will last six minutes and 39 seconds and this length will not be exceeded again until June 13, 2132.
The last partial solar eclipse visible from the 50th state occurred Oct. 14, 2004, and the next partial solar eclipses will be March 2016 and August 2017.
The weather Tuesday is predicted to be sunny, but will become partly cloudy by the evening with isolated showers, according to the National Weather Service.
If the sun isn’t hidden behind clouds, people are strongly urged not to directly view the phenomenon with the naked eye.
While tissues in the eye can deliver a substantial part of the sun’s ultraviolet radiation to the “light-sensitive” retina, prolonged exposure to intense visible light can cause “eclipse blindness,” or retinal burns, according to NASA.
There are, however, many safe and inexpensive methods for safely viewing a partial solar eclipse. Visit eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEhelp/safety.html for more information.
• Coco Zickos, business and environmental writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 251) or czickos@kauaipubco.com
