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16 | THE COLONY NEWS | FEBRUARY 2023 | By Mike Vergara, 951- 461-2889 Happy February! Have you ever seen an eclipse? The word "eclipse" is (partially) defined as "any obscuration of light." In astronomy, an eclipse happens when one object (the moon, a planet or an asteroid) passes in front of another object (a star, the sun, another planet or asteroid) and blocks the light from the second object. There are two types of eclipses. These are occultation (when the second object is completely blocked) or a transit (when the second object is only partially blocked). This year there are two solar eclipses and a partial lunar eclipse. It's the solar eclipses that I will be discussing. In April, the southern Indian Ocean, Australia and Indonesia will get to experience a hybrid solar eclipse. A hybrid solar eclipse occurs when the moon is almost too close to the Earth to completely block the sun. This type of eclipse will appear as a total eclipse to some parts of the world and will appear annular to others. On Oct. 14, though, there will be an annular solar eclipse whose path goes across the central US. An "annular" eclipse is of the transit type mentioned earlier. The moon will be too far away from Earth to completely cover the sun. This results in a ring of light (an annulus) around the darkened moon. Although the sun's corona (its outer atmosphere) is not visible during an annular eclipse, it's still pretty spectacular. This eclipse's path will begin over the eastern Pacific Ocean, then around 9:13 am will start across Oregon. It will pass out into the Gulf of Mexico from Texas just after noon CDT. A partial eclipse will be visible for the rest of North America. I saw the annular eclipse of 2012, and it was amazing. If you're interested, the website https://www. greatamericaneclipse.com/ has the best information. To find where the planets and constellations are, visit http://skymaps.com/index.html. From there you can print your own map of the sky for the month. Clear skies! February Sky February Sky Susan Darquea Herb Griffin Judy Petrello Chuck Smith In Memoriam