‘Ring of fire’ solar eclipse thrills Pakistanis
A dramatic annular solar eclipse appeared on the heels of the summer solstice on Sunday which was visible throughout Pakistan and other parts of the world, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.
The solar eclipse was also observed in Central Africa, the Southern Arabian Peninsula, northern India and South Central China. A partial eclipse will be seen over most of Asia, Africa, Southern and Eastern Europe, Northern Australia and parts of the Pacific and Indian Oceans.
The entire eclipse lasted about 3.75 hours, but the duration as it passed over individual locations was around a minute and a half. During the peak, it lasted just over 30 seconds.
Skywatchers in Pakistan witnessed Sunday a dramatic "ring of fire" solar eclipse. Sukkur and Gwadar witnessed the greatest phase of the celestial spectacle with over 98 and 97 percent coverage respectively.
According to Pakistan Meteorological Department, the partial eclipse began at 8:46am in Pakistan and ended at 14:34 with the greatest eclipse occurring at 11:40 am. Karachi and Lahore witnessed over 91 percent coverage while Gilgit witnessed the lowest coverage at only 74 percent.
Experts had advised people to avoid directly laying their eyes at the sun during the eclipse. People in several cities have also offered Namaz-i-Khasuf.
The eclipse at major cities of Pakistan and their corresponding timings are as follow:
Skywatchers along a narrow band from West Africa to the Arabian Peninsula, India and the Far East also witnessed the dramatic "ring of fire" solar eclipse. So-called 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 happen every year or two, and can only be seen from a narrow pathway across the planet.
Sunday's eclipse arrived 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" was first visible in the northeastern Republic of Congo from 5:56 local time (04:56 GMT) just a few minutes after sunrise. This is the point of maximum duration, with the blackout lasting 1 minute and 22 seconds.
Arcing eastward across Africa and Asia, it reached "maximum eclipse" -- with a perfect solar halo around the Moon -- over Uttarakhand, India near the Sino-Indian border at 12:10 local time (0640 GMT).
More spectacular, but less long-lived: the exact alignment of the Earth, Moon and Sun was visible for only 38 seconds.
In Nairobi, East Africa, observers saw only a partial eclipse as clouds blocked the sky for several seconds at the exact moment the Moon should have almost hidden the Sun.
Despite some disappointment, Susan Murbana told AFP: "It was very exciting because I think I'm so obsessed with eclipses.
"Today has been very kind to us in terms of the clouds. And we've been able to see most of it," said Murbana who set up the Travelling Telescope educational programme with her husband Chu.
Without the coronavirus pandemic, they would have organised a trip to Lake Magadi in southern Kenya where the skies are generally clearer than over the capital. "With the pandemic situation, we're not able to have crowds... and get kids to look through or do stuff," she said but still managed to share the event on social media.
"We had around 50 people joining us via Zoom and then we have so many people via our Facebook live."
The annular eclipse is visible from only about two percent of Earth's surface, Florent Delefie, an astronomer at 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 cold light and you don't see as well."
- Animals get spooked -
Animals can get spooked -- birds will sometimes go back to sleep, and cows will return to the barn.
The full eclipse was visible at successive locations over a period of nearly four hours, and one of the last places to see the partially hidden Sun was Taiwan.
People hundreds of kilometres (miles) on either side of the centreline across 14 countries could also see light drain from the day but not the "ring of fire".
Weather conditions are critical for viewing.
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 the 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 out the Sun's light entirely.
Two solar, four lunar eclipses in 2020: Fawad
Pakistan’s Federal Minister for Science and Technology has said that there will be two solar and four lunar eclipses in this year.
Fawad Chaudhry in a tweet said that Sunday’s solar eclipse was best visible in Sukkur and its surrounding areas. This year’s second solar eclipse will be on December 14, but it will not be visible in Pakistan, he added.
Referring to myths that surround solar and lunar eclipses, the minister said that when man’s knowledge was very limited, superstitions were on the rise. Everything that the men liked was associated with good fortune and what he feared including eclipses was associated with torment but now science has revealed the reason behind this natural phenomena. So, the stories of superstition connected with it are also taking their last breaths,” he added.–Agencies