1

NIGERIA TO EXPERIENCE PARTIAL SOLAR ECLIPSE ON SUNDAY 26 FEBRUARY 2017

Professor Babatunde Rabiu

Director/Chief Executive Centre for Atmospheric Research, National Space Research and Development Agency,

Federal Ministry of Science and Technology, Anyigba, Nigeria Email: tunderabiu@carnasrda.com; tunderabiu2@gmail.com

The Sun is surrounded by eight planets, each of which moves around it in paths that are known as orbits. Some of these planets including the Earth have moons that orbit them. At times, the moons come between the planets and the Sun. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partly obscuring the image of the Sun for a viewer on Earth. An annular solar eclipse occurs when the Moon's apparent diameter is smaller than the Sun's, blocking most of the Sun's light and causing the Sun to look like an annulus (ring). An annular eclipse appears as a partial eclipse over a region of the Earth thousands of kilometres wide. A partial solar eclipse makes the Sun's light to be blocked by the moon and makes the Sun not to maintain its round shape from a viewer on the Earth. It will be visible across southern South America in the morning and it ends in south-western Africa at sunset. The next annular solar eclipse shall occur on Sunday 26th February 2017, and shall be visible across southern South America in the morning and it ends in south-western Africa at sunset. Precisely, this eclipse shall be visible in Chile, Argentina (South America), Atlantic, Africa, and Antarctica. It shall have eclipse duration of 44 seconds and magnitude of 0.992. The distance between the Moon's shadow axis and Earth's center shall reach a minimum at 14:54:33 Universal time, that is 3:54 pm Nigerian local time. This is the time when the axis of the Moon's shadow passes closest to Earth's center and is the time when the greatest eclipse shall occur. Unfortunately as at this time, the eclipse would not be visible in Nigeria. The first view will be seen around Nigerian border with Benin Republic at about 4:44 pm. The eclipse predictions are freely given by Fred Espenak of NASA's GSFC.

(a)atthebeginning (b)atMaximum (c)attheend

DifferentviewsofPartialEclipseof26theFebruary2017

Eclipses in Lagos, Nigeria

City name... Search Time/General Weather Time Zone DST Changes Sun & Moon

Sun & Moon Today Sunrise & Sunset Moonrise & Moonset Moon Phases Eclipses Night Sky Beta

26 February 2017 — Annular Solar Eclipse — Lagos

Phases and Local Times of this Eclipse

Start Max End

Add to Calendar

Animation: How the Partial Solar Eclipse Will Look

The annular phase of this solar eclipse is not visible in Lagos, but it can be

observed there as a partial solar eclipse. Check the weather for Lagos.

More about the 26 February 2017 — Annular Solar Eclipse

Sun, 26 Feb 2017, 17:41 WAT

LIVE  ▶

 ▸Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Google+

Solar Eclipses

1. Different Types of Eclipses

2. What are Solar Eclipses?

3. Total Solar Eclipses

4. Partial Solar Eclipses

5. Annular Solar Eclipses

6. Solar Eclipses in History

7. Solar Eclipse Myths and Superstitions

8. Magnitude of Eclipses

Eclipses ▸

Eclipses in Lagos, Nigeria

City name... Search Time/General Weather Time Zone DST Changes Sun & Moon

Sun & Moon Today Sunrise & Sunset Moonrise & Moonset Moon Phases Eclipses Night Sky Beta

26 February 2017 — Annular Solar Eclipse — Lagos

Phases and Local Times of this Eclipse

Start Max End

Add to Calendar

Animation: How the Partial Solar Eclipse Will Look

The annular phase of this solar eclipse is not visible in Lagos, but it can be

observed there as a partial solar eclipse. Check the weather for Lagos.

More about the 26 February 2017 — Annular Solar Eclipse

Sun, 26 Feb 2017, 17:41 WAT

LIVE  ▶

 ▸Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Google+

Solar Eclipses

1. Different Types of Eclipses

2. What are Solar Eclipses?

3. Total Solar Eclipses

4. Partial Solar Eclipses

5. Annular Solar Eclipses

6. Solar Eclipses in History

7. Solar Eclipse Myths and Superstitions

8. Magnitude of Eclipses

Eclipses ▸

Eclipses in Lagos, Nigeria

City name... Search Time/General Weather Time Zone DST Changes Sun & Moon

Sun & Moon Today Sunrise & Sunset Moonrise & Moonset Moon Phases Eclipses Night Sky Beta

26 February 2017 — Annular Solar Eclipse — Lagos

Phases and Local Times of this Eclipse

Start Max End

Add to Calendar

Animation: How the Partial Solar Eclipse Will Look

The annular phase of this solar eclipse is not visible in Lagos, but it can be

observed there as a partial solar eclipse. Check the weather for Lagos.

More about the 26 February 2017 — Annular Solar Eclipse

Sun, 26 Feb 2017, 17:41 WAT

LIVE  ▶

 ▸Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Google+

Solar Eclipses

1. Different Types of Eclipses

2. What are Solar Eclipses?

3. Total Solar Eclipses

4. Partial Solar Eclipses

5. Annular Solar Eclipses

6. Solar Eclipses in History

7. Solar Eclipse Myths and Superstitions

8. Magnitude of Eclipses

Eclipses ▸

2

Nigeria shall experience partial eclipse on Sunday 26th February 2017. As the path of totality is below Nigerian landmass, partial solar eclipse will be seen over Nigeria in spectacular version. The first view will be seen around Nigerian border with Benin Republic at about 4:44 pm. The partial eclipse shall first be sighted in Lagos at about 4:46 pm with maximum eclipse occurring at about 5:41 pm and terminate at about 6:31 pm. 26.96 % of the Sun shall be obscured in Lagos while the eclipse shall last for 1hr 45 minutes. Eclipse obscuration is the fraction of the area of the eclipsed body obscured by the eclipsing body during an eclipse. In the case of a solar eclipse, it is the fraction of the Sun's area that is covered by the disk of the Moon. Obscuration is expressed in decimal fractions or percentages (e.g., 0.75 or 75%). The southernmost Port-Harcourt shall have the greatest obscuration of 35.84 % while the least obscuration of the Sun (16.9%) shall be recorded in Sokoto. Different Nigerian cities, depending on the location shall experience different percentage of Sun’s coverage and eclipse duration progressively between 4:44 pm and 6:27 pm. Maiduguri in North Eastern Nigeria, shall experience 17.76% obscuration of the Sun. Statistics of the spectacular event is given in the table below for some selected locations in Nigeria.

Location Eclipse cycle in Local Time (p.m) Total duration Eclipse begin Maximum time End time

Lagos 4:46 5:41 6:31 1 hr 45 mins Abuja 4:54 5:44 6:30 1 hr 36 mins Ilorin 4:52 5:43 6:29 1 hr 38 mins Kano 5:02 5:45 6:25 1 hr 23 mins Osogbo 4:50 5:42 6:30 1 hr 40 mins Maiduguri 5:01 5:46 6:27 1 hr 25 mins Lokoja 4:50 5:43 6:31 1 hr 40 mins Sokoto 5:06 5:45 6:21 1 hr 16 mins Benin City 4:46 5:42 6:32 1 hr 46 mins Port harcourt 4:43 5:41 6:34 1 hr 50 mins Ibadan 4:48 5:42 6:30 1 hr 42 mins Kaduna 4:58 5:44 6:27 1 hr 30 mins The luminosity of the Sun does not permit naked eye viewing, so the Sun should always be viewed using proper solar viewing protection glasses at all stages of an eclipse. The public is discouraged from viewing the Sun with naked eyes. Eclipse is a natural phenomenon, which should be appreciated whenever it occurs. The last partial eclipse was on 1st September, the next partial lunar eclipse will be on 7th August 2017 and the next total solar eclipse will be on August 21, 2017.

3

Path of Solar Eclipse of 26th February 2017 as given by Fred Espenak of NASA's GSFC

Professor Babatunde Rabiu

Director/Chief Executive, Centre for Atmospheric Research, National Space Research & Development Agency, Federal Ministry of Science and Technology, Anyigba, Nigeria

Email: tunderabiu@carnasrda.com; tunderabiu2@gmail.com ; Tel: +234 803 070 5787

Solar eclipse of February 26, 2017

Map

Type of eclipseNature AnnularGamma -0.4578Magnitude 0.9922

Maximum eclipseDuration 44 sec (0 m 44 s)Coordinates 34.7°S 31.2°WMax. widthof band 31 km (19 mi)

Times (UTC)Greatesteclipse 14:54:33

ReferencesSaros 140 (29 of 71)Catalog #(SE5000)

9545 (http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEcat5/SE2011-2110.html)

Solar eclipse of February 26, 2017From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

An annular solar eclipse will occur on February 26, 2017. A

solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and

the Sun, thereby totally or partly obscuring the image of the Sun

for a viewer on Earth. An annular solar eclipse occurs when the

Moon's apparent diameter is smaller than the Sun's, blocking

most of the Sun's light and causing the Sun to look like an

annulus (ring). An annular eclipse appears as a partial eclipse

over a region of the Earth thousands of kilometres wide. It will

be visible across southern South America in the morning and it

ends in south-western Africa at sunset.

Contents1 Images

2 Related eclipses

2.1 Solar eclipses 2015-2018

2.2 Metonic cycle

3 Notes and References

3.1 References

4 External links

Images

Related eclipses

Solar eclipses 2015-2018

Each member in a semester series of solar eclipses repeats approximately every 177 days and 4 hours (a semester) at

alternating nodes of the Moon's orbit.