Solar eclipse 2019 will be visible from most of Asia including South India as well as certain parts of North/ East Africa and North/ West Australia.
Solar eclipse will form a “ring of fire” in sky on December 26, 2019
Photo Credit: NASA/ Hinode/ XRT
The last solar eclipse of the year is currently underway. The eclipse began seconds before 8am IST today and will continue until roughly 1:35pm IST. This isn't a total solar eclipse but an annular one that is rare in its own regard. In an annular solar eclipse, Moon eclipses the Sun to form a “ring of fire” in the sky. The last solar eclipse of 2019 will be visible in places such as India, Australia, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia, and Singapore. In India, only part of west and south India will witness the maximum eclipse, whereas north and east will get to see the partial annular eclipse.
Generally, when the new Moon intersects the light of the Sun, it brings a total solar eclipse on Earth. But it won't be the case this time as the Moon is presently quite farther than average from Earth and once it will cross the Sun, a “negative shadow” or what technically called the antumbra will become visible in the form of the ring of fire. This is known as an annular eclipse.
According to the details available on Norway-based TimeandDate.com, the annular solar eclipse 2019 will be visible from most of Asia including South India as well as certain parts of North/ East Africa and North/ West Australia. The partial eclipse will appear at the first location at 7:59:53am IST on Thursday, December 26. It will after that reach the full eclipse stage at 9:04:33am IST and then move to the maximum eclipse position at 10:47:46am IST. Moreover, the solar eclipse will last for a maximum of three minutes and 40 seconds. People in Britain and North America won't be able to see the annular solar eclipse 2019 on the ground.
| Event | Time in India |
|---|---|
| First location to see the partial eclipse begin | 26 Dec, 07:59:53 |
| First location to see the full eclipse begin | 26 Dec, 09:04:33 |
| Maximum Eclipse | 26 Dec, 10:47:46 |
| Last location to see the full eclipse end | 26 Dec, 12:30:55 |
| Last location to see the partial eclipse end | 26 Dec, 13:35:40 |
Sri Lankan astronomy channel Tharulowa Digital and space-focussed website Slooh.com will live stream the annular solar eclipse. While Tharulowa Digital will begin the live stream on YouTube at 8am IST, Slooh.com is set to start the live stream from the Middle East, India, and Singapore at 8:30am IST.
If you're planning to witness the solar eclipse in person, make sure that you wear eye protection and aren't looking at the Sun or the sky with naked eyes.
Just 15 days after the last solar eclipse of 2019, the world will see the first lunar eclipse of 2020 on January 10. The eclipse, however, won't be noticeable due to its penumbral nature that is hard to determine from a usual full Moon session.
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