‘Ring of Fire’ solar eclipse 2024: Will it be visible in Pakistan?

The Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) has said that final solar eclipse of 2024, occurring on the night of October 2-3, will not be visible from Pakistan.

The annular solar eclipse, also known as a “ring of fire,” will commence at 8:45 pm local time.

An annular solar eclipse occurs when the moon passes directly over the sun’s disk but is farther from Earth, resulting in a bright ring visible around the edges. The path of annularity will be limited, running through specific southern regions of Chile and Argentina.

A partial solar eclipse will accompany the annular event, visible approximately 85 minutes before and after the ring of fire. The partial eclipse will be observed across parts of South America, Antarctica, North America, and the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, including Hawaii.

How to look at the eclipse?

According to NASA, it is never safe to look directly at the sun during an annular eclipse without specialized eye protection as you could permanently damage your eyes.

When watching an annular (or even partial) solar eclipse people should always look at it using approved solar viewing glasses (AKA eclipse glasses) or a handheld solar viewer.

Additional safety tips:

– Wear proper eye protection, such as safe solar viewers and filters
– Regular sunglasses do not provide adequate protection
– Create a pinhole projector to safely view the eclipse by projecting the sun’s image onto a nearby surface