Parts of India to witness partial solar eclipse on March 9

Come March 9 (Wednesday) and this planet will witness a total solar eclipse.

"The Mindanao areas will have a good view of the partial solar eclipse, having an eclipse obscuration of up to 80 percent while the Luzon and the Visayas areas' eclipse obscuration ranges from 30 to 60 percent and 60 to 70 percent respectively", Pagasa said.

Since the moon's orbit around Earth is not a ideal circle, at times it may cross directly in front of the sun but is far enough away such that its apparent size is not large enough to cover the sun. Totality of eclipse occurs in a narrow path across Earth's surface, with the partial solar eclipse visible over a surrounding region thousands of kilometers wide. Each location on the path of totality will experience darkness for 1-4 minutes.

As the ABC reports, those in Alice Springs (9:20 a.m. ACST), Broome (7:23 a.m. AWST), Cairns (10:12 a.m. AEST), Darwin (9:07 a.m. ACST), Rockhampton (10:55 a.m. AEST) and Perth (8:06 a.m. AWST) will see partial eclipse on March 9. People should be able to view it, in totality or in part, from Indonesia and northern Australia to Hawaii.

The total solar eclipse is expected to occur over the Pacific Ocean.

However, a total eclipse will only be visible for two to four minutes from the Pacific and parts of Indonesia, including Sumatra, Borneo and Sulawesi. According to the HAAC, the best places to see the partial eclipse in Vietnam are the southern provinces.

Next year, this rare event will take place over the United States. However, the entire eclipse will only be visible in the middle of the ocean.

Meanwhile, each eclipse season generally has a lunar eclipse two weeks before, or after, a solar eclipse, i.e., at either the preceding or following full moon. When the moon's shadow falls on Earth, observers within that shadow see the moon block a portion of the sun's light. He is involved in various space-related research and educational activities throughout New Mexico and elsewhere.