On the morning of Tuesday , January 4, an annular solar eclipse was visible in Spain, the rest of Europe, North Africa and the western half of Asia. The phenomenon occurred in Spain from 8.19 am, coinciding with the sunrise, when the moon partially covers the star from the perspective of the Earth. The maximum occultation phase occurred at 8.58 am and the eclipse ended around 10.18 am.
In Barcelona, the magnitude of the partial eclipse of the sun was 0.63 (percentage of the diameter of the sun covered by the moon), which will be equivalent to seeing around 54 percent of the star covered, while in Madrid that magnitude was 0, 57 (47 percent covered) and in Cádiz 0.48 (37 percent will be covered).
Although the sun is very low on the horizon when the eclipse occurs, experts recommend that those who want to see the phenomenon use special glasses because "looking at the sun is always dangerous".
The president of the United States International Astronomical Union Working Group on Eclipses, Jay Pasachoff, has explained that "partial eclipses are usually not useful to scientists, although the edge of the moon that advances can help astronomers to identify solar storms ".
In 2011 there will be three more partial eclipses of the sun: June 1 (seen in North America and the North Pole), July 1 (visible only between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans), and November 25 (Antarctica).
