Space1 min(s) read
Published 14:20 16 Jun 2020 GMT
The most dramatic "ring of fire" solar eclipse for a decade will be visible this weekend in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East.
The event will be taking place on Sunday, June 21, 2020, and those lucky enough to catch a glimpse of it will witness the shortest and deepest annular solar eclipse of 2020.
Relive the historic moment Dr. Buzz Aldrin planted the American flag on the moon:
[[jwplayerwidget||https://content.jwplatform.com/videos/DFWxNDLh-Q0L14jDU.mp4||DFWxNDLh]]
Now, you're probably wondering what a ring of fire solar eclipse is, so let us explain. It's a celestial event that happens when a new moon is furthest away from Earth on its elliptical orbit, meaning that it doesn't completely cover the sun's disk.
That's why anyone who watches the event - which is basically the opposite of a supermoon - must wear protective glasses to prevent damage to their eyesight.
The "ring of fire" eclipse will be visible at sunrise in the Republic of the Congo and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, then it can be witnessed higher in the sky in South Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Yemen, Oman, Pakistan, India, Tibet, China, and Taiwan.
The ring around the sun will be present for just a minute and that's exactly what makes it so spectacular. This is because 99 percent of the sun will be obscured, making it appear like a total solar eclipse.
Not only this, but viewers of the event might also catch a glimpse of the sun's outer atmosphere, the corona, which is a white-hot layer that's otherwise impossible to see.
After this, the next "ring of fire" eclipse will be taking place on June 10, 2021, in North America, and it will be visible at sunrise from northern Ontario and northern Quebec.
It's been theorized that the best place to catch a glimpse of this event, which will be the first of its kind in North America since 2012, will be in a small plane above Polar Bear Provincial Park where there will be a 94 percent eclipsed sun at sunrise.
But don't worry if you're not in North America for this event, it will also be visible in Greenland, over the North Pole, and into far northeastern Russia.
However, it's worth noting that while the "ring of fire" eclipse is impressive, nothing quite beats a total eclipse.
Fred Espenak, a retired NASA astrophysicist and eclipse-chaser, said per Travel + Leisure: "In rating the sheer beauty and grandeur of solar eclipses, a partial solar eclipse is a 3, an annular solar eclipse is a 7, and a total solar eclipse is a 1,000,000! There's no comparison."
The next total solar eclipse will be taking place on December 14, 2020, in Chile and Argentina.
