SL to witness a special solar eclipse today

Colombo (News 1st): After a number of years a special solar eclipse can be witnessed from Sri Lanka. Professor Chandana Jayaratne of the Colombo University’s Department of Physics said an annular solar eclipse happens when the moon covers the sun’s centre, leaving the sun’s visible outer edges to form a “ring of fire” or annulus around the moon. He said the annular eclipse would be visible for three hours and 15 minutes from 8:10 a.m. to 11:25 a.m. in the Northern parts of the country. He also warned people not to look at the sun directly with the naked eye during the eclipse as it would damage the eyes. “The partial eclipse can be observed from about 8:10 a.m. for people in Colombo. The maximum partial phase will occur at 9:36 a.m. and then the moon will cover nearly 87.6% of the sun. The eclipse ends up at 11.22 a.m,” he said.