TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Next month, a full solar eclipse will be visible in 11 provinces in Indonesia. The residents of Bengkulu, Jambi, Sumatera Selatan, Bangka Belitung, West Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan Tengah, South Kalimantan Selatan, East Kalimantan, West Sulawesi, Central Sulawesi Tengah, and North Maluku will be able to witness the rare phenomenon.

People in other parts of Indonesia can also watch a partial eclipse, the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) said yesterday February 11.

On March 9, Indonesians living in Padang, Jakarta, Bandung, Surabaya, Pontianak, Denpasar, Banjarmasin, Makassar, Kupang, Manado and Ambon can observe the partial eclipse.

The people of Padang will be able to see an almost full eclipse, with the moon shadow covering 95.41 percent of the sun's surface. So will the residents of Manado 96.66 percent and Pontianak 92.96 percent.

The people in Jakarta can see the eclipse at 88.76 percent of its maximum point, the same as Bandung. Meanwhile, Surabaya gets 83.08 percent and Denpasar 76.53 percent.

People in South and East Asia as well as northern and eastern Australia can also see a partial eclipse. The eclipse will begin at 23:20 UTC of 6:15 west Indonesia time, on March 8. The maximum point of the eclipse will occur on 02:00 UTC or 9:00 Jakarta time, March 9, lasting 4 minutes and 9 seconds.

MAYA NAWANGWULAN