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A total eclipse of the sun will occur next Friday (August 1). It will be already at dusk when the eclipse happens so only a partial eclipse will be briefly visible in Hong Kong, weather permitting.
The eclipse will begin at 6.43pm, and end about 7.03pm when the moon and sun descend below the horizon successively. A small part of the sun will be obscured by the moon during the eclipse. Please refer to the attached diagram for the path of the sun and the moon during this partial eclipse.
At the beginning of the eclipse, the sun will be in the direction of the west-northwest with an elevation of only four degrees. The best places to observe this eclipse will be those with an unobstructed view just above the horizon to the west-northwest, such as Tai O and the top of Tai Mo Shan.
Although this solar eclipse will occur near sunset, sunlight could still be rather strong. People must not look directly at the sun with the naked eye or through a telescope. A safer method is to project the sun's image through a pin hole or a telescope onto a piece of white paper or cardboard and view the projection. An illustration is given on the Hong Kong Observatory website:
http://www.weather.gov.hk/gts/event/event-solar-eclps16_e.htm
The next solar eclipse observable in Hong Kong will occur on January 26, 2009. It will be an annular eclipse but only visible as a partial eclipse in Hong Kong.
Please refer to the Hong Kong Observatory website for a detailed explanation of the technical terms used for different stages of the eclipse: http://www.weather.gov.hk/gts/astron2008/solar_eclipse_e.htm
Ends/Friday, July 25, 2008
Issued at HKT 11:24
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