PARIS: 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 toward the Sun.
The “ring of fire” will first be seen in northeastern Republic of Congo at 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 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 (6:40 GMT).
More spectacular, but less long-lived: the exact alignment of the Earth, Moon and Sun will be visible for only 38 seconds.
“The annular eclipse is visible from about two percent of Earth surface,” Florent Delefie, an astronomer and the Paris Observatory, said.
“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.”
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 kilometers on either side of the centerline 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.
Rare ‘ring of fire’ solar eclipse to dim Africa, Asia
https://arab.news/95tjy
Rare ‘ring of fire’ solar eclipse to dim Africa, Asia
- Annular solar eclipse soccur every year or two and can only been seen from a narrow pathway across the planet
- There will be a second solar eclipse in 2020 on December 14 over South America
Turkish-language drama ‘Yellow Letters’ wins Berlin Film Festival’s top prize
- The report did not say who was to blame for the attacks
BERLIN: “Yellow Letters,” a Turkish-language drama about what happens to a marriage put under extraordinary political pressure, won the Berlin Film Festival’s Golden Bear top prize on Saturday night.
The drama filmed in Germany but set in Turkiye follows a married actor and playwright who have to leave behind their comfortable lives after the husband is targeted by the state for posting critical content online.
“I know what (this win) means to my cast and crew who came from Turkiye, who now are getting a visibility that is on an international scale,” Turkish-German director Ilker Catak told Reuters after the award ceremony.
The director, whose previous Berlin entry “The Teachers’ Lounge” was nominated for an Oscar, said it was important that the film was not just about Turkiye, but Germany as well.
“There is a sign that says 1933 and what we’ve seen in this country before, we must never forget,” he said, referring to the year that Adolf Hitler came to power.
This year’s jury president, legendary German director Wim Wenders, praised the winner as “a movie that speaks up very clearly about the political language of totalitarianism.”
In total, 22 films had been in the running.
POLITICAL FESTIVAL
The festival maintained its reputation as the most overtly political of its peers, Venice and Cannes, with the war in Gaza in particular dominating public discussions about the films.
“If this Berlinale has been emotionally charged, that’s not a failure of the Berlinale, and it’s not a failure of cinema,” said festival director Tricia Tuttle at the opening ceremony, using the festival’s nickname.
Wenders used his final appearance as jury president to urge filmmakers and activists to act as allies, not rivals, after his comment that filmmakers should not be political caused Indian novelist Arundhati Roy to pull out.
Several award winners used their speech to express solidarity with the Palestinians and other oppressed peoples.
“The least we can do here is to break the silence and remind them that they are not really alone,” said Turkish filmmaker Emin Alper, whose film “Salvation” took the second-place Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize.
Palestinian-Syrian director Abdallah Al-Khatib, whose “Chronicles From the Siege” won the Perspectives section for emerging filmmakers, criticized the German government for its stance on Gaza despite concerns about crossing a red line.
“I was under a lot of pressure to participate in Berlinale for one reason only, to stand here and say: ‘The Palestinians will be free,’” he said.
SANDRA HUELLER WINS AGAIN
German actor Sandra Hueller, who starred in 2024 Oscar-winning films “Anatomy of a Fall” and “Zone of Interest,” continued her winning streak by taking home best actor for the period piece “Rose,” in which she dresses as a man.
“To me, it’s special because I won my first-ever recognition as an actor in a film at this festival 20 years ago,” Hueller told Reuters, who won best actress in 2006 for “Requiem.”
“Queen at Sea,” a drama that follows French star Juliette Binoche as she deals with her mother’s advanced dementia and its effects on her marriage, won two prizes: the third-place jury prize and best supporting actor, shared by its two elderly performers, Anna Calder-Marshall and Tom Courtenay.
Director Lance Hammer, who last competed at the festival in 2008, said he hoped that maybe “people will see this and feel some comfort or relief that they’re not alone.”
Director Grant Gee won best director for “Everybody Digs Bill Evans,” a black-and-white biographical drama starring Norwegian actor Anders Danielsen Lie as the US jazz pianist.
“Nina Roza,” about an art curator who returns to Bulgaria to verify whether a child painting prodigy is genuine, won best screenplay while “Yo (Love is a Rebellious Bird)” took the prize for outstanding artistic contribution.
