Solar eclipse to grace SA skies on Tuesday: Here’s when and how to look up [WATCH]

South Africans are in for a treat with a partial solar eclipse visible across the country. Picture – iStock South Africans are in for a treat with a partial solar eclipse visible across the country. The partial solar eclipse will be visible from large parts of South Africa on Tuesday, 17 February.

The South African National Space Agency (Sansa) urged South Africans to use protective eyewear when viewing the solar eclipse. “The partial eclipse will begin at 2.01pm14:01 South African Standard Time, reaching maximum eclipse at 2.23pm with about 5% solar coverage in the Western Cape,” Sansa spokesperson Daleen Fouche said. “The partial eclipse will end at 3.24pm, with a full duration of 1 hour and 23 minutes.” For South Africans, this is a rare occurrence: when the Moon passes between the Earth and the Sun, obscuring it.

During a partial solar eclipse, the Moon, Sun and Earth do not align in a perfectly straight line and the Moon casts only the outer part of its shadow, known as the penumbra, onto Earth. The partial solar eclipse will be streamed live on the Sansa’s YouTube channel using its newly acquired solar telescope. Sansa said it will use the 60mm white-light solar telescope, producing a white-light image.

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If you are in the line of totality, the general rule is not to stare directly at the Sun. However, there’s an exception. Only when the Sun is completely hidden from view will you be able to stare directly at it and witness the corona.

Apart from that brief window, you must wear proper eye protection or specialised glasses to look at the Sun. If you don’t, you could suffer long-term or even permanent damage to your vision.

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