File copy: Solar Eclipse

Some residents of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), who noticed the partial eclipse across the country, on Sunday expressed excitement over the occurrence but some did not notice the event.

Centre for Atmospheric Research, a subsidiary of the National Space Research Development Agency, had predicted that partial solar eclipse would occur in some cities across the country on Sunday between 4.44p.m. and 6.27p.m.

Some, who noticed the event in FCT, said in interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja that the eclipse was a beautiful sight to behold.

Timothy Ndukuba, a resident of Karu, said he experienced eclipse of the sun last as a teenager and was thrilled seeing it today.

“I never knew that eclipse of the sun still happens, I was thinking it is something for only scientists to observe with their instruments.

“The last time I remember witnessing eclipse of the sun was as an adolescent but it is fun to know that it still occurs,” he said.

Dr Charles Nnadi, a resident of Kubwa, said it was his five- year-old son who observed the eclipse and got curious.

Nnadi said it was the first time the boy would see the sun in that manner‎.

“I know I heard about the occurrence of the eclipse but never took cognizance of the fact that it would really happen.

“I was relaxing when my little boy called my attention to it while looking out through the window.

“As usual, he will get inquisitive at what he doesn’t understand; I had to do the explanation and to my greatest surprise he was happy.

“He stood outside observing the sun fade into the moon,” Nnadi said.

Mrs Doreen Fidelis, a resident of Dutse, said she noticed the eclipse on her way out to visit a friend around 5p.m.

Fidelis said the environment looked a bit dark and she almost cancelled the visit.

“I was on my way out to see a friend around 5p.m when I realised there was partial darkness at that time.

“At first I thought my time was deceiving me and I nearly went back home thinking it was late to go out.

“I had to look up the sky to realise it was partial eclipse ‎of the sun and the sight was really nice,” she said.

However, Mr Kenneth Dim, a resident of Lugbe, said he never knew eclipse took place.

“I heard about the eclipse in the news but it did not seem anything different happened.

“The atmosphere to me still felt like same and there was no darkness as compared to some other kinds of eclipse I used to know.”

Chioma Samuel, another resident of Dutse, did not observe the eclipse and said people went about‎ their normal activities.

“I did not see the eclipse and I used to know that when there is eclipse, people especially children, are happy to view the sight, but nothing like that happened around me,” Samuel said.

Prof Babatunde Rabiu, Director, Centre for Atmospheric Research, had explained in an interview with NAN that the eclipse would be seen in Chile, Argentina, the Atlantic, Africa, and Antarctica.

“It shall have eclipse duration of 44 seconds and magnitude of 0.992.

“The distance between the moon’s shadow axis and earth’s centre shall reach a minimum at 14:54:33 universal time, which is 3:54 p.m. Nigerian local time,” Rabiu said.

He said different cities across Nigeria, depending on location, would experience different percentage of the sun’s coverage and eclipse duration progressively between 4:44 p.m. and 6:27 p.m.

Rabiu said the last partial eclipse was on Sept. 1, 2016, while the next partial lunar eclipse would be on Aug. 7 and the next total solar eclipse would occur on Aug. 21.

“An annular eclipse appears as a partial eclipse over a region of the earth thousands of kilometres wide.

“A partial solar eclipse makes the sun’s light to be blocked by the moon and makes the sun not to maintain its round shape from a viewer on the earth.

“Precisely, this eclipse shall be visible in Chile, Argentina, Atlantic, Africa, and Antarctica.’’

The eclipse occurred between 5 p.m. and few minutes past 6 p.m.

(NAN)