Suraj Girhan 2021: Thursday marks first solar eclipse of the year

• The partial solar eclipse began at 13:12 PST and ended at 18:11 PST.
• It reached its peak around 15:42 PST.
• The solar eclipse was not visible in Pakistan.

ISLAMABAD: The “Annular Eclipse of the Sun” started on Thursday and was witnessed by people in different countries around the world. However, for Pakistanis, the phenomenon was not visible, according to a spokesperson of the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD).

The annular phase of this solar eclipse would be visible from parts of Russia, Greenland, and Northern Canada.

Dr Zaheer Babar added that in Northern Asia, Europe, US, as well as in North/West Africa and much of North America and the Atlantic, the eclipse will be visible.

He said the partial eclipse occurred in these particular areas at 13:12 according to Pakistan Standard Time (PST), while the annular eclipse began at 14:50 PST.

It reached its peak at 15:42 PST and ended at 16:34 PST while the partial eclipse ended at 18:11 PST.

Dr Zaheer Babar informed that there would be four eclipses during the year, two of them lunar and two solar.

What is solar eclipse?

A total eclipse is when the Moon and the Sun line up in the sky in such a way that the Moon blocks the entire face of the Sun – called totality. Somewhere on the Earth these occur approximately every 18 months.

But we can’t all experience totality every time as the shadow of the Moon tracks a narrow path over the surface of the Earth. Any given point on the Earth is only likely to experience this approximately once every 375 years.

Being able to view a total solar eclipse strongly depends on your location and having cloudless skies (or at least patchy clouds). Even though totality is not very common, you’ll likely have many partial solar eclipses from your location over the years. If you’re lucky enough to be in the path of a total or partial eclipse, get prepared and know what to expect.