Saudi Arabia, UAE to Witness Rare Solar Eclipse on June 21
Saudi Arabia and UAE will witness a rare partial solar eclipse on June 21 which will last for approximately two hours, the Dubai Astronomy Group announced on Saturday.
The solar eclipse will begin in Saudi Arabia at 7:09 a.m. local time and will last for two hours and 39 minutes, according to NASA’s eclipse watch.
In Dubai, the phenomenon will start at 8:14 a.m. and last for two hours and 57 minutes until 11:12 a.m., the Dubai Astronomy Group said.
A solar eclipse occurs when a portion of the Earth is engulfed in a shadow cast by the moon, which partially or fully blocks sunlight.
During a solar eclipse, it gets dimmer and dimmer outside as the moon covers the sun.
While the annular phase of this solar eclipse – the ring of fire when a ring of sun appears around the moon – will not be visible from Dubai or Saudi Arabia, it can be seen as a partial eclipse.
The regions that will see a partial eclipse include South/East Europe, much of Asia, North of Australia, much of Africa, the Pacific and the Indian Ocean.
The Dubai Astronomy Group advised against looking directly at the sun during the eclipse and warned against the use of normal sunglasses as protection.
