Six eclipses this year

First eclipse today:

There will be six eclipses this year; four partial solar eclipses and two total lunar eclipses.

This 4:2 combination of solar and lunar eclipses in a single year is rather rare with only six cases during the 21st Century (2011, 2029, 2047,2065,2076 and 2094).

The first and last eclipses always occur in January and December.

The first solar eclipse of 2011 occurs today when the moon comes in between the Sun and the Earth at the Moon's ascending node.

This will be a partial solar eclipse and visible to the observers in Europe. North Africa, the Middle East and parts of central Asia.

The partial eclipse begins at noon Sri Lankan time with the penumbral shadow of the moon first touches the earth's surface in Northern Algeria, and ends up at 4.01 pm Sri Lankan time when the penumbra leaves Earth from Northwest China.

In Western Europe, as much as 86 percent of the solar disk will be covered by the Moon.

However, this eclipse is not visible to Sri Lanka, said Colombo University Senior Lecturer in Physics, Arthur C Clarke Institute for Modern Technologies - Space Applications Division Consultant Dr Chandana Jayaratne.