Solar eclipse on March 8 will darken parts of southeast Asia

In March there are two eclipses. The first is a solar eclipse on March 8 or March 9 (depending on your time zone), and the second is a lunar eclipse on March 23. For the solar eclipse, the moon will pass between the Earth and the sun. The trajectory of the eclipse shadow – the geographic areas where the eclipse will be visible – occurs in southeast Asia. This will mean that the solar eclipse on March 8 will darken parts of southeast Asia.

The locations where the eclipse will be visible are Indonesia, Borneo, and the Pacifc Ocean. There is a narrow band of land where there is a total eclipe, and locations in the vicinity of this path will have a partial eclipse. The partial solar eclipse will be visible in parts of Asia and the Pacific, such as Hawaii, Guam, and parts of Alaska.

People in the path of the eclipse will see the shadow for about an hour, and the total darkness from 90 seconds to about 4 minutes. The path covers about 8,800 miles in length (14,000 kilometres). The width of the narrow band of shadow is about 97 miles across (156 kilometres).

Solar eclipses should not be viewed directly with the naked eyes as they can damage the eyes. Eclipses can be viewed with a solar-filtered telescope, eclipse glasses, or a pinhole projector.

Total solar eclipses occur about once a year. The next total solar eclipse is August 21, 2017 (HuffPost Science, March 1, 2016).

MARTINA NICOLLS is the author of:- The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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