Home
Science
Solar Eclipse 2020: Rare 'Ring of Fire' Eclipse to Dim India, Other Parts of Asia, Africa

Solar Eclipse 2020: Rare 'Ring of Fire' Eclipse to Dim India, Other Parts of Asia, Africa

The "ring of fire" solar eclipse will first be seen in north-eastern Republic of Congo at 5:56 local time (10:26am IST) just a few minutes after sunrise.

By Gadgets 360 Staff With Inputs From AFP | Updated: 20 June 2020 11:39 IST

Solar Eclipse 2020: Rare 'Ring of Fire' Eclipse to Dim India, Other Parts of Asia, Africa

Photo Credit: NASA/ Hinode/ XRT

June 21 solar eclipse will be visible as a "ring of fire" in the sky

Highlights

'Ring of fire' will first be seen in north-eastern Republic of Congo
Exact alignment of the Earth, Moon and Sun will be visible for 38 seconds
A solar eclipse always occurs two weeks before or after a lunar eclipse

Skywatchers along a narrow band from west Africa to the Arabian Peninsula, India, and southern China will witness on Sunday the most dramatic "ring of fire" solar eclipse to shadow the Earth in years. Annular eclipses occur when the Moon — passing between Earth and the Sun — is not quite close enough to our planet to completely obscure sunlight, leaving a thin ring of the solar disc visible. They occur every year or two, and can only been seen from a narrow pathway across the planet.

Remarkably, the eclipse on Sunday arrives on the northern hemisphere's longest day of the year — the summer solstice — when Earth's north pole is tilted most directly towards the Sun.

The "ring of fire" will first be seen in north-eastern Republic of Congo at 5:56 local time (10:26am IST) just a few minutes after sunrise.

Solar Eclipse 2020: How to Watch 'Ring of Fire' Live Online, India Timings

This is the point of maximum duration, with the blackout lasting 1 minute and 22 seconds.

Arcing eastward across Asia and Africa, it will reach "maximum eclipse" — with a perfect solar halo around the Moon — over Uttarakhand, India near the Sino-Indian border at 12:10 local time (12:10pm IST).

More spectacular, but less long-lived: the exact alignment of the Earth, Moon and Sun will be visible for only 38 seconds.

June 21 Will Bring the First Annular Solar Eclipse of 2020: What's Next

"The annular eclipse is visible from about two percent of Earth surface," Florent Delefie, an astronomer and the Paris Observatory, told AFP.

"It's a bit like switching from a 500-watt to a 30-watt light bulb," he added. "It's a cold light, and you don't see as well."

Good weather key

Animals can get spooked — birds will sometimes go back to sleep, and cows will return to the barn.

The full eclipse will be visible somewhere on Earth during just under four hours, and one of the last places to see a partially hidden Sun is Taiwan before its path heads out into the Pacific.

People hundreds of kilometres on either side of the centreline across 14 countries will also see light drain from the day, but not the "ring of fire".

Weather conditions are critical for viewing

"Good weather is the key to successful eclipse viewing," astrophysicist Fred Espenak, an expert on eclipse prediction, commented on the NASA Eclipse website. "Better to see a shorter eclipse from clear sky than a longer eclipse under clouds."

A solar eclipse always occurs about two weeks before or after a lunar eclipse, when the Moon moves into Earth's shadow. Lunar eclipses are visible from about half of Earth's surface.

There will be a second solar eclipse in 2020 on December 14 over South America. Because the Moon will be a bit closer to Earth, it will block on the Sun's light entirely.

It will take less than 100 minutes for the path of this eclipse to move across the continent. Even if the day has darkened, looking at a solar eclipse with the naked eye is dangerous.

Sunglasses — which don't filter out UV rays — do not offer any protection, Delefie warned.

"The Sun is so bright that even when there's only a tiny portion visible, it is still dangerous for the eyes," he said.

How to watch June 21 solar eclipse live online

If you're residing in one of the locations where the annular solar eclipse will be visible on June 21, you can go out to experience the ring of fire effect with your own eyes. It is important to take eye protection into consideration while watching the eclipse live.

Space enthusiasts can also watch the event live online. Popular channels such as TimeandDate and Slooh will be streaming it live on their YouTube. You can also follow the path of the eclipse using the NASA tracker.

Is Mi Notebook 14 series the best affordable laptop range for India? We discussed this on Orbital, our weekly technology podcast, which you can subscribe to via Apple Podcasts or RSS, download the episode, or just hit the play button below.

Comments

For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.