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Hybrid Solar Eclipse 2013: How To See Rare Celestial Sight On November 3

THIS WEEKEND: How To See Rare 'Hybrid' Eclipse
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Law student & former journalist

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On Sunday skywatchers will be treated to the last solar eclipse of 2013.

The Nov. 3 hybrid solar eclipse will follow a path across the Atlantic Ocean and over Africa. In North America, the eclipse will be visible only to observers on the East Coast.

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The path of the hybrid solar eclipse, via NASA.

Sunday's eclipse is considered a hybrid because it's essentially a mashup of two familiar types of eclipse. It will start as an annular eclipse, with the awesome "ring of fire" around the sun, before morphing into a total solar eclipse, in which the sun is totally blocked for a brief period.

The Slooh Space Camera will livestream the eclipse online as seen from Kenya, where the sun and moon will form a total solar eclipse.


A sequence of a rare hybrid solar eclipse, as photographed in the annular form in Panama in 2005.

On the East Coast of the U.S., the best chance of seeing the hybrid solar eclipse will be at 6:30 a.m. ET. Skywatchers near Boston and New York should expect to see the moon covering more than half the sun. Farther south, a smaller portion of sun will be obscured.

Hybrid solar eclipses are rare. Of the 11,898 solar eclipses indexed and predicted between 1999 B.C. and 3000 A.D., only 4.8 percent were considered hybrids, according to Universe Today.

Oh, and a note of caution: Remember that eye protection is required when viewing this eclipse, even though it's just a hybrid.

Watch Slooh's live broadcast of the hybrid solar eclipse below from 6:45 a.m. to 10:15 a.m. ET Sunday.

Before You Go

Solar Eclipse
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How savvy are you about eclipses? You probably know that a solar eclipse occurs when the moon passes between the Earth and the sun. But did you know that the shadow of a solar eclipse travel at 1,100 miles an hour at the equator and up to 5,000 miles an hour at the poles? And that's just one of this slideshow's fascinating facts, as compiled by NASA scientist Sten Odenwald.Picture taken on Easter Island, 3700 km off the Chilean coast in the Pacific Ocean, on July 11, 2010. (credit:MARTIN BERNETTI/AFP/Getty Images)
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During an eclipse, local animals and birds often prepare for sleep or behave confusedly. Picture taken in Bucharest, Romania on January 4, 2011. (credit:DANIEL MIHAILESCU/AFP/Getty Images)
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Before the advent of modern atomic clocks, studies of ancient records of solar eclipses allowed astronomers to detect a 0.001 second per century slowing down in Earth's rotation.Picture taken on July 22, 2009 from the observatory of the University of the Philippines in Manila. (credit:TED ALJIBE/AFP/Getty Images)
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The width of the path in which a total eclipse is visible is at most 167 miles wide.Picture taken at the Life-giving Trinity Russian Orthodox Cathedral in Moscow, Russia on January 4, 2011. (credit:OXANA ONIPKO/AFP/Getty Images)
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The longest duration for a total solar eclipse is 7.5 minutes.Picture taken on January 04, 2011 in Locon, northern France. (credit:PHILIPPE HUGUEN/AFP/Getty Images)
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Partial solar eclipses can be seen up to 3,000 miles from the "track" of totality.Picture taken in Baihata village, 30 kms from Guwahati, the capital city of the northeastern state of Assam in India on July 22, 2009. (credit:BIJU BORO/AFP/Getty Images)
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The maximum number of solar eclipses (partial, annular, or total) is 5 per year, and there are at least 2 solar eclipses per year somewhere on the Earth.Picture taken in the Indian city of Varanasi on July 22, 2009. (credit:PEDRO UGARTE/AFP/Getty Images)
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Only partial solar eclipses can be observed from the North and South Poles.Picture taken over the statue of late Chinese leader Mao Zedong in Wuhan, Hubei province, China, on July 22, 2009. (credit:AFP/AFP/Getty Images)
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Light filtering through leaves on trees casts crescent shadows as totality approaches. Picture taken on July 22, 2009 in Seoul, South Korea. (credit:Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)
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"Shadow bands" are often seen on the ground as the eclipse's peak approaches.Picture taken on January 04, 2011 in Rennes, western France. (credit:DAMIEN MEYER/AFP/Getty Images)
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During totality, the horizon is illuminated in a narrow band of light, because an observer is seeing distant localities not under the direct umbra, or area of darkness, of the Moon's shadow.Picture taken on January 4, 2011 in Old Damascus, Syria. (credit:LOUAI BESHARA/AFP/Getty Images)
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Local temperatures often drop 20 degrees or more near totality. Picture taken January 4, 2011 in Italy. (credit:Flickr: David Paleino)
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Every eclipse begins at sunrise at some point in its track and ends at sunset about half way around the world from the start point. Picture taken January 4, 2011 by the Hinode satellite. (credit:NASA Goddard Photo and Video, Hinode/XRT)
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Nearly identical eclipses (total, annual, or partial) occur after 18 years and 11 days, or every 6,585.32 days (Saros Cycle). Picture taken in Lahore, Pakistan on January 4, 2011. (credit:Arif Ali/AFP/Getty Images)
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