'Ring of Fire' solar eclipse to take place on June 10

KARACHI: The first solar eclipse of year 2021 will take place on Thursday (June 10). This ‘ring of fire’ solar eclipse will not be sighted in Pakistan, experts said.

The eclipse will be seen in Russia, Greenland, Northern Canada, North Asia, Europe, and the United States.

Astronomer and Director Institute of Space Science and Technology Karachi University Professor Dr Javed Iqbal said that the first solar eclipse of 2021 could not be sighted in Pakistan.

The eclipse can be occurred at 1:12pm Pakistan Standard Time (PST), while it would be at its peak at 3:42pm and expected to end at 4:34pm, the professor said.

Annular eclipses occur when the Moon — passing between Earth and the Sun — is not quite close enough to our planet to completely obscure the sunlight, leaving a thin ring of the solar disc visible.

These eclipses occur every year or two, and can only be seen from a narrow pathway across the planet.

The last solar eclipse took place on December 14, 2020. That solar eclipse was also not visible in Pakistan and the South Asian region.

A solar eclipse always occurs about two weeks before or after a lunar eclipse, when the Moon moves into Earth’s shadow. Lunar eclipses are visible from about half of the Earth’s surface.

The last lunar eclipse, which was also not visible in Pakistan, was witnessed on May 26.