Surya Grahan or solar eclipse, the first cosmic event of 2020, will take place on June 21. This will be an annular eclipse, often called the "ring of fire". It will be visible from Asia, Africa, Europe, Australia and of course India, on Saturday. This eclipse will however not be as bright as the one on December 26 last year.
What is an annular eclipse?
The annular eclipse happens when the Sun, Moon and Earth comes on the same plane and the Moon is farthest from the Earth. The Moon does not block the entire Sun as it is smaller and so it looks like a dark disk surrounded by flame coloured ring and that creates the "ring of fire" effect.
Time of Surya Grahan
In India, the Surya Grahan will start near Gharsana in Rajasthan around 10:12 am. The annular phase will begin around 11:49 am and end at 11:50 am, Director of the MP Birla Planetarium Debi Prasad Duari told news agency PTI.
The "ring of fire" can best be seen, just for a minute, from Suratgarh and Anupgarh in Rajasthan, Sirsa, Ratia and Kurukshetra in Haryana, and Dehradun, Chamba, Chamoli and Joshimath in Uttarakhand.
The annular solar eclipse will be visible without any equipment, but it is recommended to use some kind of eye protection.
According to NASA, the Moon will block 99.4 per cent of the Sun at its peak and will be visible very well from Northern India.
This year we will witness three more eclipses - the first two are lunar eclipse in July and November and the third one will be a solar eclipse in December.
