SOLAR ECLIPES

Good morning everyone, I am very pleased to be speaking to you today. I hope that you feel
as excited as I am. I’d like to draw your attention for a few minutes to share with you about
solar eclipse. Most of us are not very familiar with this eclipse because the solar eclipse was
not visible in Malaysia due to its route. Here, I will talk about what is solar eclipse, what are
the 5 stages of a solar eclipse, what are the unique sights around Totality and how often do
solar eclipse happen. For your information, from Earth, we can see 2 types of eclipses, which
is eclipses of the Sun, we called it solar eclipse and eclipses of the Moon, lunar eclipse. These
occur when the Sun, Earth and the Moon align in a straight or almost straight configuration.

A solar eclipse can only occur if the moon is in its new moon phase when it passes between
the earth and the sun. If the moon's umbra falls on the earth's surface at that time, then we
would be able to see some part of the sun eclipsed, or covered, by the moon. The Moon's
umbra is not big enough to engulf the entire planet, so the shadow is always limited to a
certain area. This area changes during the course of the eclipse because the Moon and Earth
are in constant motion which is, Earth continuously rotates around its axis while it orbits the
Sun and the Moon orbits Earth. This is why solar eclipses seem to travel from one place to
another. There are 5 stages in a total solar eclipse, the first contact is partial eclipse begins,
when the Moon starts becoming visible over the Sun’s disk. The Sun looks as if a bite has
been taken from it. Secondly, total eclipse begins when the entire disk of the Sun is covered
by the Moon. When it become to the totality and maximum eclipse, the Moon completely
cover the disk of the Sun. Only the Sun’s corona is visible. This is the most dramatic stage of
a total solar eclipse. At this time, the sky goes dark, temperatures can fall, birds and animals
often go quiet. Observers in the path of the Moon's shadow may be able to see Baily's beads
and the diamond ring effect, just after totality ends. After that, when the moon starts moving
away and the sun reappears that was the time that total eclipse ends. Finally, partial eclipse
ends when the Moon stops overlapping the Sun’s disk. The eclipse ends at this stage in this
location.

Another point is, there is certain phenomena can only be seen during a total solar eclipse,
such as diamond ring, the Sun’s corona, baily’s beads and the Sun’s chromosphere. The
shadow band is about 1 minute before totality, moving wavy lines of alternating light and
dark can be seen on the ground and along walls. Another one is diamond ring, that will
appear about 10 to 15 seconds before and after totality, the solar corona becomes visible, seen
together with a single jewel of light from the sun, this creates a diamond ring effect. As the
diamond ring fades, the Sun's corona becomes more visible. The Sun’s corona is the
outermost part of the Sun’s atmosphere. The corona is usually hidden by the bright light of
the Sun's surface. That makes it difficult to see without using special instruments. However,
the corona can be viewed during a total solar eclipse. About 5 seconds before totality, Baily's
beads appear. They are little bead-like blobs of light at the edge of the Moon. They are
created because gaps in the mountains and valleys on the Moon's surface allow sunlight to
pass through in some places but not others. And lastly is the Sun's chromosphere which is a
lower layer of the Sun’s atmosphere, the chromosphere gives out a reddish glow which can
only be seen for a few seconds after totality sets in.

A point to consider is, it takes hours for the Moon to move completely between the Sun and
Earth, but the time when the Sun is completely covered lasts no more than a couple of
minutes for any given location. The longest amount of time of totality for the 21 st August
2017 eclipse, the total phase will last a maximum of 2 minutes 41 seconds. The longest times
for any eclipse can last up to seven minutes. A solar eclipse, totality lasts for only a few
minutes at any one spot, but the eclipse itself lasts for hours. The entire event worldwide
lasted less than 6 hours. This is because the shadow of the Moon is very small compared to
Earth and moves very quickly. They do not happen every month because the Earth's orbit
around the sun is not in the same plane as the Moon's orbit around the Earth. Most calendar
years have 2 solar eclipses. The maximum number of solar eclipses that can take place in the
same year is 5, but this is rare. According to NASA calculations, only about 25 years in the
past 5,000 years have had 5 solar eclipses. The last time this happened was in 1935, and the
next time will be in 2206.

In conclusion, total solar eclipses are very rare events for any given place on Earth because
totality is only seen where the Moon's umbra touches the Earth's surface. A total solar eclipse
is a spectacular natural phenomenon and many people consider to travel to witness the
phenomenon. Viewing the Sun during partial and annular eclipses requires special eye
protection, or indirect viewing methods. When the solar eclipse happens, do not look directly
at the Sun. You can seriously hurt your eyes and even go blind. You need a proper eye
protection, like eclipse glasses or a Sun filter. According to NASA, sunglasses, color film,
medical X-ray film, smoked glass and floppy disks should never be used to view a solar
eclipse because the Sun’s UV radiation can burn the retinas in the eyes leading to permanent
damage or even blindness. This can occur even if your eyes are exposed to direct sunlight for
just a few seconds.
https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/total-solar-eclipse.html