An annular eclipse of the Sun for September 2016

On Thursday, September 1st 2016, the Moon will be on a line between the Earth and the Sun. This almost perfect alignment will produce a solar eclipse. The eclipse will be an annular one. The apparent diameter of the Moon will be insufficient to cover the solar disc completely, so that a solar ring will subsist around the Moon.

General information concerning the eclipse

The annular form of the eclipse will be visible from a «main zone», i.e. from the path of the lunar shadow projected onto the Earth. Outside of the main zone, the eclipse will appear as a partial one. It will not be visible from metropolitan France.

100km wide, the main zone will start at 6h 13m 5,4s (UTC) in the southern Atlantic ocean, will then cross the African continent passing over Gabon, Congo, the Democratic Republic of Congo, en passant sur le Gabon, le Congo, Tanzania, the north-eastern part of Mozambique and Madagascar: it will end at 12h 0m 37,4s (UTC) in the Indian Ocean.

It so happens that Reunion Island is within this main zone. At the peak of the eclipse (between 14h09 and 14h11, local time), the Moon will cover 94 % of the Sun as seen from the Reunion islands within the main zone.

It is vital that those who will be there protect their eyes with special devices (special « éclipse » glasses…), as well as their observing and photographic instruments.
The Reunion, a special information campaign for school children

For this occasion, the Paris Observatory, via the Institut de mécanique céleste et de calcul des éphémérides (IMCCE), has joined with the Observatory of the Makes, the Astronomical Association of the Reunion (AAR) and the Reunion Rectorate, to launch an important public information campaign.

Its purpose is to make pedagogic use of this exceptional event at the school level: 64 talks will be given in 14 different places, by astronomers from the Paris Observatory and associated centres. Their subject will be «Solar Eclipses».

Direct transmission of the eclipse from Reunion Island

In this context, astronomers will observe the eclipse using a set of instruments specially designed for solar observations.

The entire eclipse will be filmed and transmitted in real time from the Eclipse village situated at the Gol lake (Saint Louis commune) over the Paris Observatory’s dailymotion station. It will last for 3h20.