03 November 2013 Hybrid Solar Eclipse

03 November 2013 Hybrid Solar Eclipse: This Hybrid Solar Eclipse starts as annular eclipse but soon becomes a Total Solar Eclipse. Over the course of 3.3 hours, the Moon's umbra (dark shadow) travels along a path approximately 8,450 miles/13,600 km long, but only 35.4 miles/57 km at its widest point, which occurs about half-way through the eclipse in the North Atlantic Ocean. Greatest eclipse also occurs at this point in the North Atlantic Ocean at 12:47:36 UT/GMT 03 November 2013, with maximum totality of 1 minute 39 seconds, approximately 205 miles/330 km southwest of Liberia. At the point of maximum eclipse the Sun will have an altitude of 71° and is when the axis of the Moon's shadow passes closest to Earth's centre.

The umbra shadow of Total Solar Eclipses and Hybrid Solar Eclipses are always narrow, and it is only from within this narrow path of totality from which a Total Eclipse of the Sun can be viewed; a partial solar eclipse can be seen over a much wider area.

A partial solar eclipse can be seen within the much broader path of the Moon's penumbral shadow, and eastern North America, northern South America, southern Europe, the Middle East and Africa, can observe a partial solar eclipse.

The path of Totality reaches its first major landfall on the Eastern coast of Africa over Gabon, just north of Port-Gentil in the Wonga-Wongue National Reserve Park 13:51 UT/GMT where the Totality duration is 1 minute 7 seconds, with the Sun altitude at 46°.

The umbra shadow of the Moon crosses Gabon in 9 minutes, then enters and passes over the Congo in 7 minutes. The umbra shadow continues travelling over the surface of Earth crosses into the Democratic Republic of the Congo where the path of totality is 36 km wide, and totality duration is 48 seconds.

The eclipse path begins to bend to the northeast as it narrows and the duration of totality decreases. By the time the umbra reaches the western border of Uganda, totality drops to 23 seconds with the Sun at 18° (14:22 UT). Sweeping over northern Kenya, the path crosses Lake Turkana where the central line duration is 14 seconds at 14:25 UT/GMT.

In the final 2 minutes and 30 seconds of the eclipse, the lunar shadow races across southern Ethiopia before leaving Earth's surface in Somalia where a 1 second total solar eclipse occurs at sunset.