Vietnam welcomes the longest solar eclipse in 1,000 years this afternoon

The Vietnamese people can begin to observe the record long solar eclipse from 14h11 in Dien Bien and Lai Chau.

Mr. Nguyen Duc Phuong, member of the Vietnam Astronomical Society, said the solar eclipse will start in Dien Bien and Lai Chau at 14.11 this afternoon. In Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, the time to start observing is 15h49 and 15h41 respectively. Solar eclipse will end in Cao Bang and Ha Giang around 1706.

Eclipse realizes that when the earth is at the closest position to the sun and the moon in the farthest position from the globe, the moon is not big enough to obscure the entire sun.Photo: Telegraph.

The coverage of the sun in Ha Giang is 73.8%, the largest in the country. In Hanoi and HCMC, coverage is 67.3% and 38.1% respectively. In the world, the maximum coverage of the sun is in the Indian Ocean. The coverage of the sun in eclipse today in Vietnam is equivalent to the longest total solar eclipse in the century on July 22, 2009.

The longest annual solar eclipse in 1,000 years will begin in Central Africa, passing through the Indian Ocean, southern India, Southeast Asia and ending in China today.

The solar eclipse is more dangerous than the total solar eclipse because the sun is not completely obscured. Mr. Phuong recommended that observers should not look directly at the sun when this happens, because ultraviolet rays from the sun can damage the retina and cause blindness. X-ray films, magnetic tapes and sunglasses are also not safe observation devices, because they do not completely remove ultraviolet rays.

According to Mr. Phuong, people should use specialized glasses and welder glasses to observe. Without these items, people should place the mirror in a water bath of solid ink and observe the eclipse image in the mirror. In addition, we can cut holes with a few millimeters of diameter on a cover sheet and place a white sheet a few centimeters away from the cover. When pointing the cover and paper toward the sun when the eclipse occurs, the sun image will appear on the paper.

A solar eclipse occurs when the moon passes between the earth and the sun. The eclipse of Japan occurs every year when the earth is at the closest position to the sun and the moon in the farthest position from the earth, so the moon is not big enough to obscure the whole sun. When the solar eclipse takes place, we can see Venus near the sun, because the planet emits very strong light.