what is a hybrid eclipse

A hybrid eclipse is a rare type of solar eclipse that changes its appearance as the Moons shadow moves across the Earths surface. It is a combination of an annular and a total solar eclipse, where the former becomes the latter and then usually reverts back. Hybrid eclipses occur when the Moons distance is near its limit for the umbral shadow to reach Earth and because Earth is curved. The moon is just at the right distance from Earth for the apex of its cone-shaped shadow to be slightly above the Earths surface at the beginning and end of the eclipse path, causing the moons antumbral shadow to move across Earth causing an annular solar eclipse. However, because Earths surface is curved, sometimes an eclipse can shift between annular and total as the Moons shadow moves across the globe, resulting in a hybrid eclipse. Hybrid eclipses are also called annular/total eclipses because some observers along the central shadows path see the same solar eclipse as a total solar eclipse with an eclipse magnitude greater than 1 while others experience it as an annular eclipse, which has a magnitude below 1. The last hybrid eclipse was the Ningaloo Eclipse on April 20, 2023.