Kenyan skywatchers catch glimpse of ‘ring of fire’ solar eclipse

Last updated on September 11th, 2021 at 02:43 pm

Skywatchers in Kenya on Sunday caught a glimpse of a partial solar eclipse.

The annular phase of this solar eclipse is not visible in Nairobi

. The ‘ring of fire’ as it is called is visible between 6.46am and 8.59am.

This is the first solar eclipse of 2020, and it takes place during the summer solstice.

A solar eclipse happens when the moon passes in front of the Sun, blocking it’s light.

This solar eclipse is special because it is an ‘annular solar eclipse’. This means that the moon is too far away to completely hide the sun’s light, so a little bit of it still peeks around the edge, making it look like a shining ring in the sky – which is where it gets the nickname ‘ring of fire’ eclipse.

The eclipse will only be visible in the sky to people living in certain parts of the world.

“A narrow stripe from Africa to the Pacific Ocean will see the moon in front of the sun (blocking 99.4% of the sun at its peak in northern India) such that only a bright ring is visible,” said NASA.

Be careful! If you are trying to watch the solar eclipse, you should never look directly at the Sun, as you could damage your eyes – you should use special solar glasses or make a pinhole camera instead.

There will be one more solar eclipse this year on December 14, which will be a total eclipse, meaning the Moon completely blocks the Sun’s rays. It will mainly be visible to people in Chile and Argentina.

(TheStar)