Cristina Hodgson
A SOLAR eclipse is expected this Thursday and will provide spectacular views for skywatchers around the world.
According to data from the National Geographic Institute (IGN), a partial eclipse of the sun will occur on June 10, 2021 which will be visible in some parts of the world including Spain.
A partial solar eclipse happens when the Moon comes between the Sun and Earth, but the Moon only casts the outer part of its shadow on Earth.
The annular solar eclipse will be completely visible in northwest Canada, northern Greenland, part of the Arctic Ocean and northeast Russia, and in Spain it will be partial and will hide, at most, 20% of the solar diameter in the northwest of the peninsula.
In Madrid, the three distinct stages of the partial solar eclipse this Thursday, June 10, will be as follows:
- The Partial Eclipse begins (11:00:55 am): The Moon starts moving over the Sun’s disk.
- Maximum Eclipse (11:43:19 am): The Moon is closest to the center of the Sun and the eclipse reaches its maximum magnitude.
- Partial solar eclipse ends (12:29:03 pm): The Moon stops covering the Sun.
Observers must be very careful while viewing the solar eclipse, whether the eclipse is total or partial, you should never look directly at the sun because although the sun’s brightness decreases during the phenomenon, the energy it radiates is equally harmful to the retina.
To observe it, it is advisable to get special eclipse glasses (available in opticians’ shops and astronomy-related places) or to use telescopes or binoculars with suitable filters. Never use normal sunglasses or ‘home made’ filters.
Another safe option for observing the partial eclipse is to follow live broadcasts from local planetariums such as the one in Madrid or Pamplona, or to watch it from the sky-live.tv channel, which will broadcast the eclipse from the Teide Observatory.
The last partial solar eclipse we saw in Spain was on August 21, 2017 and the next partial eclipse will be seen on 25 October 2022.
The next total solar eclipse in Spain is expected on August 12, 2026.
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