this article taken from straits time
A COOL sensation will descend over Singapore on Friday afternoon with a solar eclipse said to be the longest of its kind in the next 1,000 years.
At its peak over the Indian Ocean, it will last for just over 11 minutes.
In Singapore, it will last from about 3.10pm to 5.30pm, with the best viewing time at about 4.25pm. The Singapore Science Centre will set up its giant telescope and host various activities to mark the event. It usually attracts a few hundred people to watch such eclipses.
It will also hand out free solar glasses through which the eclipse can be viewed safely.
'There will definitely be something worth seeing and people will experience a cool sensation on the skin as there will be a dip in radiation from the sun. It will feel like the sun in more temperate climates,' said the centre's outgoing chief executive, Dr Chew Tuan Chiong.
Friday's eclipse is an annular one - the moon will pass in front of the sun, but will not block it completely, as in a total eclipse. Instead, there will be a ring of fire, or a solar ring, visible around the edge of the darkened moon.
The next full Solar Eclipse that can be viewed from Singapore it will be at 2016
taken from Science Centre
The dates for eclipses visible in Singapore are as follows:
Solar Eclipses Visible in Singapore between 1999 and 2031
| Date | Type | Mid-Eclipse Local Time | Magnitude* |
| 16 Feb 1999 | Annular | 16h 05m | 0.08 |
| 26 Jan 2009 | Annular | 18h 02m | 0.85 |
| 22 Jul 2009 | Total | 09h 17m | 0.06 |
| 15 Jan 2010 | Annular | 16h 29m | 0.31 |
| 9 Mar 2016 | Total | 08h 20m | 0.85 |
| 26 Dec 2019 | Annular | 13h 24m | 0.97 |
| 21 Jun 2010 | Annular | 15h 58m | 0.15 |
| 20 Apr 2023 | Annular/Total | 11h 57m | 0.26 |
| 22 Jul 2028 | Total | 09h 41m | 0.69 |
| 21 May 2031 | Annular | 16h 59m | 0.85 |
* Magnitude is defined as the fraction of the Sun's diameter covered by the disc of the Moon at middle eclipse as seen in Singapore.
Becareful thought try not to see the sun with your naked eye ...
why? some explanation: from physlink:
You actually can safely look at a total solar eclipse while the sun is _totally_ blocked by the moon. It looks like the moon has a fiery white aura, and it is one of the more spectacular things I have ever seen.
So why do people say it's dangerous to look at a solar eclipse? Well, in general (during non-eclipse times), you've probably been told not to stare at the sun. This is because the sun simply outputs more power than our eye is designed to handle, and exposing our eye to that kind of power can damage the retina. And in a nutshell, solar eclipses are dangerous because the sun can come out from behind the moon and "surprise you" before you have a chance to look away. And this is actually even worse than when you normally look away from the sun because during the total eclipse, it is dark out, and your pupil therefore dialates so that it can let in enough light to get a good picture. Then, when the sun reappears and starts flooding the area with really bright light, not only are you staring straight at it, but your eye is in a state where it is wide open, and actively trying to let in as much light as possible.
This explains why it is easy to damage your eye when watching a total solar eclipse, and why you should either be sure to time it very carefully (and allow for a good margin of error), or just view the thing through one of those sets of cheap "dark" glasses they sell for the express purpose of looking at the sun without getting hurt.
