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The first solar eclipse of 2010 and the longest eclipse of the millenium is expected to happen on Friday and will be visible in some parts of Asia including the western part of Indonesia, an astronomer said Thursday.

Hakim Luthfi Malasan, an astronomer at the Bosscha Observatory near Bandung, told the Jakarta Globe that the annular solar eclipse would be most visible from Bangladesh, India, Burma and China, while in Indonesia a partial solar eclipse would be observable from Sumatra, Jakarta, West Java, Central Java, Kalimantan and some parts of Sulawesi.

“The prime viewing spot in Indonesia will be in Medan, where 50 percent visibility is expected,” Hakim said, adding that visibility would only be about 10 percent for residents of Jakarta and its surroundings.

An annular solar eclipse occurs when the Sun and Moon are exactly in line, but the Moon is too far from the Earth to cover the whole Sun. The Moon then appears to have a “ring of fire” surrounding it.

The solar eclipse is predicted to start at 2:39 p.m. in the Western Indonesian time zone and its maximum phase — when the moon would be at the exact center of the sun — would occur at around 3.55 p.m., according to the Science Exhibition Center at East Jakarta’s Taman Mini Indonesia Indah complex.

The solar eclipse could fall under the category of “extraordinary” natural phenomenon because at about 11 minutes and eight seconds it would be the longest solar eclipse to happen in the third millennium (between the years 2001 and 3000), the Science Exhibition Center noted in a press release Thursday. The previous record was in 1992, when it lasted for 11 minutes and 41 seconds.

Hakim said that the natural phenomenon is a part of the Saros cycle, an eclipse cycle with a period of about 18 years. The cycle can be used to predict solar eclipses to return at approximately the same time and place every 18 years. There are hundreds of series of eclipses around the world that are separated by one Saros cycle.

“This is the 141st Saros cycle and it is a different cycle from the eclipse that happened in Lampung last year,” Hakim said. The Lampung eclipse on Jan. 26, 2009, lasted six minutes.

Hakim warned that the eclipse should not be viewed with the naked eye and should only be viewed using a special solar filter made of mylar material that could reduce the intensity of the sun’s rays 100,000 times.

The Science Exhibition Center is holding a public observation starting at 1:15 p.m. Three solar telescopes, the CPC 800, Firescope 114, and Solarmax Coronado will be available for observers at the center.