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Solar Eclipse visible in the western US in May

Jan 16, 2012; 3:31 PM ET

An annular solar eclipse will take place on May 20, 2012 with a magnitude of 0.9439. For more about what the magnitude of a solar eclipse is, please click here. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partially 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, causing the sun to look like an annulus (ring), blocking most but not all of the Sun's light. An annular eclipse appears as a partial eclipse over a region thousands of kilometres wide.

The annular phase will be visible from the Chinese coast, the south of Japan, and the western part of the United States and Canada. Cities such as Albuquerque, New Mexico and Redding, Ca. will see this eclipse. Guangzhou, China, Tokyo and Albuquerque will be on the central path. Its maximum will occur in the North Pacific, south of the Aleutian islands for 5 min and 46.3 s, and finish in the western United States.

It will be the first central eclipse of the 21st century in the Lower 48, and also the first annular eclipse visible here since the solar eclipse of May 10, 1994.

A little tough to understand, but this diagram shows where the solar eclipse in May of 2012 can be experienced

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About This Blog

Mark Paquette
The AccuWeather.com astronomy blog, by Mark Paquette, discusses stargazing and astronomy issues and how the weather will interact with current astronomy events.