In Pictures: The "Ring of Fire" Solar Eclipse as Seen from Different Parts of the World on December 26

The last solar eclipse of 2019 happened on December 26 and left the world stunned with its "ring of fire" as the moon did not cover the sun wholly, leaving out a portion of the sun exposed which looks like a ring of fire. A solar eclipse occurs when the moon covers the sun wholly or partially. An annular solar eclipse takes place when the moon's apparent diameter is smaller than that of the sun's and blocks most of the sun's light. This causes the sun to look like a ring (annulus) of fire.

"Ring of fire" eclipses occur every year or two, however they are only visible from a narrow band of Earth each time and it can be decades before the same pattern is repeated, reports The Guardian.

According to timeanddate.com, the solar eclipse was initially visible from South Indian states at 7:59 am IST. The maximum eclipse occurred at 10:47 am IST and it ended at 1:35 pm IST.

The 88-mile (142 km) visibility path of the "ring of fire" moved to Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, India, Sri Lanka, Sumatra, Singapore, Borneo, the Philippines, and the U.S. territory of Guam, making it visible to potentially millions of skywatchers, reports space.com.

The next annual eclipse in June 2020 will be visible to a narrow band from Africa to northern Asia, claims the Guardian. Strict instructions were issued for skywatchers to use eye-protection for eclipse viewing. It was informed that viewing the eclipse through tinted glasses, binocular, home-made glasses are highly unsafe and could cause permanent loss of vision. Therefore, professional equipment is the safest and could give a clear view of the last eclipse of the decade.

References:

https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/solar/2019-december-26

https://www.space.com/ring-of-fire-christmas-solar-eclipse-2019-webcasts.html

https://www.theguardian.com/science/gallery/2019/dec/26/rare-ring-of-fire-solar-eclipse-in-pictures