Malta to experience partial solar eclipse on Friday

Malta will see a partial solar eclipse on 20 March, with northern Europe having a total eclipse on the day.

Newspapers and headlines around the world are abuzz at the prospect of the celestial phenomenon, with some foreign papers claiming it will be the strongest eclipse since 1999.

Kristian Zarb Adami, director of the Institute of Space Sciences and Astronomy at the University of Malta, explained that a solar eclipse occurs when the moon passes between the sun and the earth and partially or completely blocks the sun.  

“There can be a minimum of two and a maximum of five eclipses every year, but the strength and visibility of the eclipse depends on a country’s location on the planet. It takes an average of 375 years for a total eclipse to re-occur at a specific location,” he added.

According to a website (www.timeanddate.com), the last time a total solar eclipse was observable from Europe was in November 2013. 

Zarb Adami pointed out that the eclipse next Friday is expected to last around two hours, starting from 9.25am and ending at 11.25am, with maximum eclipse occurring at 10.25am.

Dr Charles Galdies, University of Malta lecturer and author of the Znith Observatory blog, explained that the eclipse over Malta will have an obscuration of the sun of 38% according to NASA figures, and said it will be observable from anywhere on the island.

Galdies told MaltaToday that the last eclipse of a similar size took place on 11 August, 1999. 

“At the time, the path of the moon’s shadow covered the south of the UK, northern France, Belgium, Luxembourg, southern Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia and Hungary. In Malta, the moon obscured approximately 0.70 of the sun’s diameter,” Galdies explained.

“This forthcoming eclipse will be a super-moon eclipse, since the shadow of the moon will be slightly larger than usual, and as a result, the eclipse might appear only slightly darker, but in practical terms, can be considered to be an insignificant feature,” he added.

Although everyone is invited to marvel at the phenomenon, people are encouraged to exert caution in observing the sun and they should never look directly at it without the appropriate protection. 

“The best way to watch the eclipse would be through a projection of the sun on a piece of paper or through a pinhole camera system,” Zarb Adami stressed. 

On its website, the Astronomical Society of Malta instructs people to “poke a small hole in a card with a pencil point and hold a second card a metre or so behind it,” in order to form a paper projector. 

“The hole will project an inverted image of the Sun’s disk onto the lower card. The image will undergo all the phases of the eclipse just like the Sun in the sky. A large hole makes the image bright but fuzzy; a smaller hole makes the image dim but sharp,” the website explains.

Astronomy website www.skyandtelescope.com instructs that in order to reduce the amount of daylight shining on the viewing card and ensure a clearer image, one could also enclose it in a long box.

Galdies added that people should never look directly at the sun.

“Always use special specs with special filters that block UV light. These can be ordered online but make sure that they are of good quality,” he added.

“Never, ever observe an eclipse directly through a telescope or binoculars. Instead try to project the image from the eyepiece onto a flat, white paper or cardboard,” Galdies advised.