LONDON: Amateur astronomers across Saudi Arabia will get a chance to witness an annular solar eclipse on Sunday.
Sky-gazers from Africa to the Arabian Peninsula, from India to southern China will see 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.
The natural phenomenon will be most visible in Saudi Arabia’s Sharurah governorate between 6:59 a.m. and 8:13 a.m. local time before ending at 9:41 a.m.
According to the National Astronomy Center at King Abdul Aziz City for Science and Technology, the eclipse will be visible in the Makkah region for roughly two and a half hours. In Riyadh, it will be sighted from 7:10 a.m. to 8:23 a.m.
In the Eastern Province, the eclipse will begin at 7:14 a.m. and reach its peak at 8:30 a.m. before ending at 9:59 a.m.
