Moon’s passing in front of sun can be seen fully in Liwa on December 26
The UAE will experience its first annular solar eclipse – when the moon passes in front of the sun – in 172 years on December 26, Dubai Astronomy Group has announced.
Known as a ‘Ring of Fire’ because only the edges of the sun will protrude around the moon; the event, will be fully visible only in the Gharbia or Liwa region of Abu Dhabi, whereas the rest of the country will experience varying degrees of a partial eclipse.
The phenomena, which last occurred in the UAE in 1847, will stretch from Saudi Arabia in the north down to Indonesia in the southeast and back up across Malaysia and the Philippines.
Lasting almost two and a half hours in its entirety, the actual eclipse when the moon is fully in front of the sun covering a maximum 91.93 per cent of its face, will only last two minutes 47 seconds from 7.35am to 7.38am, for those watching in Liwa.
Even those watching from outside the full eclipse coverage area will still witness an 87.18 per cent partial eclipse.
