Saudi Arabia, UAE to witness rare partial solar eclipse on June 21

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates’ Dubai will witness a rare partial solar eclipse on June 21 which will last for approximately two hours, the Dubai Astronomy Group announced on Saturday.

The solar eclipse will begin in the Kingdom at 7:09 a.m. local time and will last for two hours and 39 minutes, according to NASA’s eclipse watch.

For all the latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app

In Dubai, the phenomenon will start at 8:14 a.m. and last for two hours and 57 minutes until 11:12 a.m., the Dubai Astronomy Group said.

A solar eclipse occurs when a portion of the Earth is engulfed in a shadow cast by the moon, which partially or fully blocks sunlight.

During a solar eclipse, it gets dimer and dimmer outside as the moon covers the sun.

While the annular phase of this solar eclipse – the ring of fire when a ring of sun appears around the moon – will not be visible from Dubai or Saudi Arabia, it can be seen as a partial eclipse.

The regions that will see a partial eclipse include South/East Europe, much of Asia, North of Australia, much of Africa, the Pacific and the Indian Ocean.

The Dubai Astronomy Group advised against looking directly at the sun during the eclipse and warned against the use of normal sunglasses as protection.

“Never look directly at the sun. you can seriously hurt you eyes and even go blind. Proper eye protection, like eclipse glasses or a sun filter, is the only safe option. Sunglasses don’t work!” the astronomy group said.

Read more:

Crowds in Asia gather to see ‘ring of fire’ solar eclipse

IN PICTURES: The total eclipse as seen in Saudi Arabia

‘Eclipse of the century’ dazzles... and in Saudi Arabia is blocked by dust