MUSCAT: The Sultanate will witness a rare astronomical phenomenon that has not occurred since 118 years and will happen again after 83 years. It is the annular solar eclipse, which will be visible in the morning of Thursday (December 26).
According to Oman Astronomical Society (OAS), the phenomenon is one of the most spectacular natural phenomena, which attracts a great interest from the community and the media from various local and international media means. It will be visible in India, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Indonesia and a group of countries in the Middle East, including the Sultanate. This will be the last solar eclipse of 2019 and the central path of the eclipse passes through Arabian Peninsula, southern India, Sumatra, Borneo, the Philippines and Guam.
A partial eclipse is visible thousands of kilometres wide from the central path. It will cover East in Europe, much of Asia, North/West Australia, East in Africa, Pacific and Indian Ocean. This is the third and final solar eclipse of the year in the world’s Eastern Hemisphere. However, this is the year’s only annular eclipse — sometimes called a “ring of fire” eclipse.
An annular eclipse, like a total solar eclipse, happens when the new moon moves directly in front of the sun — except that in the case of an annular eclipse, the new moon is too small to totally cover over the sun’s disk. Therefore an annulus — or thin ring of sunshine — surrounds the new moon silhouette. — ONA
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