Year 2020’s last solar eclipse would be observed on December 14th next week.
According to Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD), the last solar eclipse of 2020 will be observed on December 20th.
The solar eclipse is the second to be observed this year and will not be visible in Pakistan.
The eclipse will start at 6:34 pm Pakistan Standard Time and end at 11:53 pm, said PMD.
The event will be observable in areas falling near the Indian Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, and Antarctic Ocean along with South Africa, countries in South America, and other parts of the world.
How Solar Eclipse occur?
A solar eclipse occurs when a portion of the Earth is engulfed in a shadow cast by the Moon which fully or partially blocks sunlight. This occurs when the Sun, Moon and Earth are aligned. Such alignment coincides with a new moon (syzygy) indicating the Moon is closest to the ecliptic plane. In a total eclipse, the disk of the Sun is fully obscured by the Moon. In partial and annular eclipses, only part of the Sun is obscured.
Since looking directly at the Sun can lead to permanent eye damage or blindness, special eye protection or indirect viewing techniques are used when viewing a solar eclipse. It is safe to view only the total phase of a total solar eclipse with the unaided eye and without protection.
This practice must be undertaken carefully, though the extreme fading of the solar brightness by a factor of over 100 times in the last minute before totality makes it obvious when totality has begun and it is for that extreme variation and the view of the solar corona that leads people to travel to the zone of totality.
