9th April, 2024
By Ijeoma Olorunfemi
The Astronomy Society of Nigeria (ASN) has faulted claims that Monday’s Solar Eclipse in parts of America was also observed in Nigeria.
The President of ASN, Prof. Augustine Ubachukwu told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the claim was wrong.
“Solar eclipse takes place during the day, unlike the lunar eclipse that occurs at night, the path of the eclipse this year did not pass through the Southern hemisphere.
“By the time the movement was passing through Mexico, US through Canada, we were already at night time here, so it wouldn’t have been observed in Nigeria.
“Solar eclipse has to happen during the new moon, during the day,’’ he said.
He added that other parts of the world had always witnessed eclipses, unlike the U.S. which would experience the next one in August 2044.
“In the Southern Hemisphere, we may be getting it before then. It is just a question of the alignment of the Sun, the Earth and the Moon,” he said.
Ubachukwu added that being a preview of the total solar eclipse event was a thrilling occurrence that exposed the part of the sun which had been hidden from human beings.
“The temperature of the outermost part of the sun is so hot, but during this type of eclipse, the moon covers it so that one can peep into the sun.
“It helps Astronomers peep into the sun and some energetic particles thrown out from the sun, astronomers get to look into some of these particles and study them,” he said.
He observed that the eclipse which could have taken place for about four minutes, would have recorded a total time phenomenon of two hours, with the moon gradually covering the sun.
The president also said that the exact laws of physics and its predictive nature had made it possible to project events like eclipse and some other natural occurrences.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) earlier studied the trajectory of the eclipse.
NASA said that it moved from Mexico, entering the United States in Texas, and travelling through Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine.
According to the report, the eclipse exited continental North America on the Atlantic coast of Newfoundland, Canada.