Sunday's partial solar eclipse is only the start ASTRONOMY

File-In this Jan.15,2010 file photo showing a combination of three separate photographs, the various stages of an annular solar eclipse seen over Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka. An annular solar eclipse occurs when the moon blots out all but a ring around the sun. This year's solar show can be viewed from eastern Asia to parts of North America. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena,File) less File-In this Jan.15,2010 file photo showing a combination of three separate photographs, the various stages of an annular solar eclipse seen over Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka. An annular solar eclipse occurs when ... more Photo: Eranga Jayawardena, Associated Press Photo: Eranga Jayawardena, Associated Press Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close Sunday's partial solar eclipse is only the start 1 / 3 Back to Gallery

The sun, the moon and the planet Venus will be staging shows during the next two weeks with three astronomical events in the springtime sky.

The first will be a rare type of partial solar eclipse on Sunday, followed in the days afterward by a partial lunar eclipse and the rare sight of Venus crossing the face of the sun in what astronomers call a transit.

The eclipse will begin at 5:16 p.m. Sunday when the new moon moves slowly across the sun's face and blocks most of it, providing a spectacular event for Bay Area viewers with proper eye protection. The National Weather Service forecasts a sunny, breezy late afternoon.

The eclipse will peak in the Bay Area at 6:33 p.m., when 84 percent of the sun will be obscured by the moon's passage, said astronomer Andrew Fraknoi of Foothill College and the Astronomical Society of the Pacific.

Ring of fire

Farther north, the event will be seen as a rare "annular" eclipse, occurring when the moon's passage carries it almost completely in front of the sun. For a few seconds, a brilliant ring of sunlight - a "ring of fire," as astronomers call it - will appear around the darkened lunar disk.

The annular eclipse - from the Latin word annulus, for "ring" - should be clearly visible in cities like Chico, Redding and Eureka as well as the region across California roughly between Yuba City and Yreka, according to calculations by Fred Espenak, a solar eclipse specialist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.

All eclipses, including this one, are dangerous if viewed with the naked eye, or even with the darkest available sunglasses, and Fraknoi warns that doing so can cause blindness.

Safe viewing

Many science institutions and amateur astronomers in Northern California will be setting up special viewing sites, equipped with safe solar telescopes as well as instruments designed to watch the eclipse indirectly.

For Bay Area residents, the best time to watch the eclipse will be between 6:15 and 6:45 p.m., Fraknoi said.

But, he said, "you'll have to find an open location where you can see things that are lower on the northwest horizon, making sure that hills or buildings don't get in the way."

The eclipse will end over the Bay Area at 7:40 p.m.

The second celestial show will be June 4, during the full moon, when Earth will cast its shadow on the moon's face, blocking out more than 35 percent of the moonlight. But, to see it, eclipse watchers will have to stay up late or wake up early: The eclipse will begin in the Bay Area at 2:59 a.m. and end at 5:06 a.m.

Finally, during the afternoon of June 5, sky watchers will see Venus crossing a corner of the sun in a rare transit. As with the eclipse, viewers are advised to be equipped with safe solar viewing telescopes, or black welder's glasses or indirect viewing instruments. Local time for the event will be from 3:06 p.m. to 3:24 p.m., according to Espenak's calculations.