Doha: You can watch the rare solar eclipse tomorrow at the Al Thuraya Planetarium. Katara has invited public to the planetarium at Building 41 to watch the Annular Solar Eclipse, which is a very rare phenomenon.
The partial eclipse will start at 5:32am and will end at 7:50am with the maximum eclipse expected at 6:35am.
CAUTION: It is not advisable to look at the Sun during a solar eclipse with naked eyes. Only eclipse glasses that have a certification with "ISO 12312-2 international standard" are safe for use, according to NASA. Other options are the number 14 welder's glass, or a pinhole projector that allows a user to project the image of the sun on paper or cardboard.
The last solar eclipse of this year will be occurring on the morning of Thursday, December 26, 2019. This phenomenon is very important as it is rare and occurred over Qatar sky for more than a century ago and will happen over Qatar sky only after more than one and a half-century.
This will be an Annular solar eclipse, where the sun will appear as a ring of fire because moon will hide the centre part of sun, astronomer at QCH Dr Beshir Marzouk said.
The solar eclipse will be seen as annular eclipse from East-South of Saudi Arabia, South of Qatar, parts of United Arab Emirates, Oman, India, and Indonesia, while it will be seen as a partial eclipse from Southeast of Africa, parts of Europe, Asia, and Middle east.
The partial solar eclipse will start over Qatar sky at 5:32am (Sunrise is at 6:17 am), while the annular phase will be at 6:35 am and the eclipse will end at 7:50 am Doha local time.
Generally, the solar eclipses occur when the moon passes between the Sun and the Earth so that the Sun is fully or partially covered. This can only happen before a new Moon phase; when the Sun and Moon are in conjunction as seen from the Earth.
There are four types of solar eclipse: total, partial, annular and hybrid.