Rare solar eclipse visible in S. Africa on Sunday: expert

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JOHANNESBURG, Oct. 31 -- South Africa will have an opportunity to see the upcoming solar eclipse, an expert said on Thursday.

The words were spoken by the director of the Johannesburg Planetarium at Wits University Claire Flanagan as addressing the solar eclipse expected on Sunday.

On Thursday, the International Astronomical Union announced in a statement that a rare solar eclipse will sweep across parts of Africa, Europe and the U.S.on Nov. 3.

Flanagan said that some countries near the equator will have an opportunity to view a total solar eclipse as the moving moon is directly between the sun and our earth, including some central African countries like the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda and Kenya.

Positioning around the Southern Tropic, South Africa will catch the partial eclipse if weather is permitted.

"Further south or north of the equator the line-up is not perfect, resulting in a partial eclipse," said the director.

The administrative capital of Pretoria in the northern part of South Africa will see 6 percent of the solar eclipse, while the port city of Durban in the southern part of the country will only view 0.4 percent of the eclipse.

Regions further southwards like Cape Town will see no eclipse. "There is a total eclipse on our earth once a year or two, but each eclipse is only seen from less than 1 percent of the earth," said the expert.

In 2002, the northeastern province of Limpopo in South Africa was lucky to see a total solar eclipse.

However, the next time for South Africa to witness the solar eclipse will be in 2030, said the expert.

The expert suggested viewers should not look directly at the sun during unusual hybrid eclipse unless taking special precautions, such as using the special welder's glass or viewing it indirectly with a pinhole filter.

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