KARACHI: Pakistan will sight an annular solar eclipse, popularly known as the ‘ring of fire’, on Sunday, the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) said on Saturday.
According to the met office, other than southern parts of Pakistan, the solar eclipse will also be visible in parts of Africa including the Central African Republic, Congo and Ethiopia and in northern parts of India and China.
An annular solar eclipse happens when the Moon covers the Sun’s center, leaving the Sun’s visible outer edges to form a “ring of fire” or annulus around the moon.
According to the PMD, the maximum magnitudes of the eclipse in major Pakistani cities will be as follow:
The eclipse would begin at about 9:45 am on Sunday across the country, and at approximately 11:45 am, the moon would completely eclipse the sun. It would end at about 1:10 pm.
The Met department said the solar eclipse would be fully visible in Karachi.
“Punjab, Balochistan and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) will have 90 per cent eclipse visibility while Karachi will have full visibility. The eclipse will be visible from Australia to Europe, as well as to people in Central Asia and Asian countries,” said the PMD.
Ophthalmologists have described Sunday’s eclipse as “dangerous for the human eye” as it would emit ultraviolet rays that could permanently destroy the vision of the human eye.
SOLAR ECLIPSE PRECAUTIONS
Do not look directly at the sun.
Do not use homemade filters or ordinary sunglasses, even very dark sunglasses.
Use special-purpose solar filters, such as eclipse glasses or handheld solar viewers, to view the eclipse.
Avoid looking at the Sun through telescope, binoculars and any other optical device.
Looking directly at the Sun can cause loss of the central vision, distorted vision or altered colour vision.
