People around the world are readying themselves to witness the first total eclipse in years! A rare solar show will sweep north-east from Brazil to Mongolia, as if it seems to blot out the sun across swathes of the world’s poorest lands.



The last solar eclipse was best viewed in November 2003 from Antarctica. — “so it wasn’t the easiest eclipse to see”, Alex Young, a Nasa scientist involved in solar research said. This time a maximum number of people across the globe can witness the eclipse as Wednesday’s eclipse will block the sun in highly populated areas, which includes West Africa.



Here the governments scrambled to educate people about the dangers of looking at the eclipse without proper eye protection. It is in Togo, authorities imported hundreds of thousands of pairs of special glasses, and consumers cleared them rapidly from shelves in the capital, Lome. But what about the villagers in the interior? Since they won’t have access to the eyewear, officials called on them to stay home.



Via: iol.co.za