IFL Science
Date: 10 JUN 2020
By: Alfredo Carpineti

Fans of eclipses rejoice: 2020 has several lunar eclipses and two solar eclipses coming up. The first one will be an annular solar eclipse on June 21, the day after the Summer Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere. The path of totality will go from Central Africa, through the Arabian Peninsula, India, China, Taiwan, and finally the Pacific. A partial eclipse will be visible across most of Africa, Asia, Southern and Eastern Europe, and Northern Australia.

The eclipse will begin at dawn in Eastern Africa (June 21, 03:45 GMT) with totality beginning about one hour later. The totality will last for about four hours as the shadow of the Moon moves across the surface of the Earth. The last location to see totality will be in the Pacific Ocean at 08:32:17 GMT.

An annular eclipse is nicknamed "Ring of Fire" because the lunar disk doesn’t completely cover the Sun, leaving a bright circle around the Moon. This happens when the Moon is near its apogee, its furthest point from the Earth, making its appearance in the sky slightly smaller than usual and allowing for portions of the Sun to be visible.   [FULL  STORY]