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The world is set to witness an annular solar eclipse on December 26, 2019. The boxing day annular eclipse is going to be a unique phenomenon when the Moon will entirely cover the Sun creating a ring of fire from its edges. The solar eclipse is going to be visible from parts of India as well.
The central track of the annular solar eclipse is going to pass through the Arabian Peninsula, southern India, Sumatra, Borneo, Philippines and Guam, according to the information provided by EclipseWise.com. Apart from these places, a partial solar eclipse is also going to be visible from a larger region of the world which covers most Asia, northeast Africa, Oceana and western Australia.
According to the definition provided by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, an annular eclipse can be defined as “a solar eclipse in which the Moon’s antumbral shadow traverses Earth (the Moon is too far from Earth to completely cover the Sun). During the maximum phase of an annular eclipse, the Sun appears as a blindingly bright ring surrounding the Moon.”
According to a recent report by Asianet News, the December 26 annular solar eclipse is going to be is clearly seen in Kerala’s Kasaragod and Wayanad districts. Kalpetta in Wayanad district is where the annular eclipse is going to be seen perfectly clear.
The eclipse is scheduled to take place at 4 pm IST and will last for three minutes. Apart from Kalpetta in Wayanad, the annular solar eclipse is going to be seen from Mangalore, Kasargod, Kannur and Thalassery. All these regions are going to witness the solar eclipse with 93 per cent visibility.
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The path width of the solar eclipse’s shadow is 164 kilometres and it is going to travel at a speed of 1.1 kilometres per second. During its over three hour trajectory, the annular eclipse is going to cover approximately 12,900 kilometres which is 0.34 per cent of the surface area of our planet, EclipseWise.com said.