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Only 10 percent of the sun will be blocked by moon in Hawaii

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Ashley Sarmanto, 17, of Redding, Calif., gets some glasses to watch the solar eclipse Wednesday, May 15, 2012, from Whiskeytown National Recreation Area volunteer Dolores Fremter at the park's visitors center in California. An annular solar eclipse will be visible in Redding on Sunday, May 20, 2012. (AP Photo/The Record Searchlight, Andreas Fuhrmann)

Only about 10 percent of the sun will be blocked by the moon in Hawaii during Sunday’s rare “ring” eclipse.

The ring eclipse — which scientists call an “annular” eclipse, in which the moon completely blocks out the sun except for an annulus, or ring of fire, around the moon’s edge —will begin at sunrise local time in southern China, then pass over Hong Kong; Taipei, Taiwan; and Tokyo before hitting its greatest extent in the Pacific Ocean near Alaska’s Aleutian Islands. After entering California, the moon’s shadow will block almost all sunlight from Reno, Nev.; the Grand Canyon in Arizona; Albuquerque, N.M.; and Lubbock, Texas.

Hawaii is at the edge of the area where the eclipse is visible and we will not see the full eclipse. In Honolulu, the moon’s shadow will begin to cross the sun at 2:03 p.m. By 3:15 p.m., the time of deepest eclipse, about a tenth of the sun will be blocked by the moon. The eclipse will end at 4:12 p.m.

Experts remind the public that it is never safe to view an eclipse without a proper filter. Experts say it’s possible to cause permanent damage to eyesight.

The Bishop Museum says it is selling inexpensive solar filters at the museum’s Shop Pacifica. A planetarium official will also be on hand  to explain the eclipse between 2:10 and 4:10 p.m. on the grounds of the Bishop Museum.

NASA has posted calculations of solar eclipse times in foreign countries and the United States and has also set up an interactive Google map showing times of the eclipse — click on the map and it’ll show when the eclipse will begin and end at any given point in the world. The times are set to “Coordinated Universal Time,” which is ten hours ahead of Hawaii.

Annular eclipses are different from total eclipses, where no “ring of fire” is visible.

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