site.btaPartial Solar Eclipse to Be Visible from Northwestern Bulgaria on Wednesday

The most interesting astronomical event of the year, total solar eclipse, will take place on Wednesday evening, Pencho Markishki, a physicist at the Institute of Astronomy and National Astronomical Observatory with the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and at the Department of Astronomy, Faculty of Physics, Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski, told BTA. The eclipse will be visible as a partial one from the northwestern parts of Bulgaria between 8:27 p.m. and sunset at 8:37 p.m.

The total solar eclipse will be visible as a partial solar eclipse across a fairly extensive region in the northern latitudes of the Earth – from northern Russia, the Arctic, the northern Pacific Ocean, the northern parts of North America, the North Atlantic, most of Europe (excluding its south-eastern regions) and West Africa. The maximum extent of the Sun's disc that will be visible depends heavily on the height of the observer's local horizon, Markishki said.

The path of totality will begin in the northernmost parts of Yakutia in Russia. It will cross the Arctic, follow the eastern coast of Greenland and continue across the North Atlantic, passing close to the western shores of Iceland. The moon's shadow will then cross Spain from north-west to south-east, pass through the Balearic Islands and end its journey in the Mediterranean Sea, Markishki said.

 In Europe, the best conditions for observing the total solar eclipse will be along the northern coast of Spain – in the area around Oviedo, Ribadeo, Navia, Luarca, Aviles, Luanco and others. For an observer in the Oviedo area, the maximum phase will occur at 9:28 p.m. Bulgarian time.

A partial lunar eclipse will occur on August 28. Its start will be visible on Bulgaria. It will also be visible from Central and Western Europe, West Africa, the Atlantic, North and South America, the south-eastern Pacific and Antarctica.

Markishki reported that skipping the penumbral eclipse is advisable, since it is not particularly interesting. He added: "The penumbral eclipse will begin at 4:24 a.m., but long after that the full Moon's disc will look perfectly normal. We can therefore begin our observations at 5:33 a.m., when the eclipse in the Earth's umbra – that is, the total phase – begins. From our country, we will be able to follow the phenomenon until the Moon sets at 6:31 a.m. in Varna [on the Black Sea] and at 6:51 a.m. in Sofia, by which time the sky will already be bright with daylight. The maximum phase of the eclipse will occur later, at 7:13 a.m., when the Moon has entered the Earth's shadow by 0.93 of its own diameter. This maximum phase is close to a total lunar eclipse, but it will only be visible to people in countries to the west of us."