In just two days, a rare hybrid solar eclipse will transfix viewers in Australia, Indonesia, and other parts of Southeast Asia. It’s a rare occasion, even for solar eclipses: During the 21st century, just 3.1 percent of solar eclipses will be hybrid—the last one occurred in 2013, the next one will be in 2031, and then you’ll have to wait until 2164 to spot this rare phenomenon.
What makes hybrid eclipses so special is that they appear differently based on a person’s location. In parts of the eclipse’s path, viewers will see an annular eclipse, in which the moon does not completely block the sun, creating a “ring of fire” effect in the sky.
Still others, however, will experience a total eclipse this week, in which the moon completely blocks out the sun, plunging areas into darkness in the middle of the morning. The reason for this duality is that Earth’s natural curvature places some geographic locations in the darkest part of the moon’s shadow, while other regions will merely be covered by the edges of this shadow.
