Annular Eclipse .. Your guide to follow the most amazing astronomical event in the Arabian Peninsula

There is no doubt that the most important and most wonderful astronomical event in the year 2019 for the Arabian Peninsula, and perhaps for decades to come, will be the eclipse of the sun that you will witness on the coming December 26th, the sun will rise in the morning and its body is covered with the moon except for its edges, which will appear as a ring of light, In this case, we are facing a wonderful phenomenon called "annular eclipse".

What an eclipse?

An eclipse is a natural phenomenon that occurs when the moon passes in front of the sun. To understand the idea, place a large lamp in the middle of your room and close the rest of the lights. Now turn a ground tennis ball in front of this lamp at a distance of two meters, for example, when the ball passes between you and the lamp it prevents the lamp light from passing to you, This is the Eclipse (Solar Eclipse); when you give your back to the lamp and the tennis ball passes through in the shade extending in front of you, because of your body, this is the eclipse (Lunar Eclipse), now place the sun in the place of the lamp, and the earth is your place, and the tennis ball will be the moon.

The sun is a giant star, and it is so giant that we can put inside it a million and 300 thousand wears the size of the earth, but it is so far away that it appears in the sky about the same size as the moon. Once the moon passes in front of the sun, the world will darken like we are at night, and the stars appear in the background of the sun There are three types of eclipses, either complete, annular or partial. In December 2019, most of the inhabitants of Arabia will see two types, annular and partial.

But to understand the nature of what is happening in each of them, you must now wonder, saying: If an eclipse occurs whenever the moon passes in front of the Earth, and we know that the moon orbits the Earth once a month, why - then - do any of these phenomena occur every month? Good question, it happens because the moon does not rotate at the same level that includes the earth and the sun together, but is separated by about 5 degrees up or down, it is like that you hold a small plane that rotates around a football with a diagonal level, so it rises slightly from the level of rotation and then does not soon To drop a little while it spins around the ball.

This is exactly what happens during the moon's rotation around the Earth. It rises slightly above its orbit level to reach the maximum possible height, and then decreases again to intersect with the Earth and the Sun at a point we call the Descending Node, then it reaches its maximum drop, then It rises again to cross the level of the Earth and the Sun at a point we call the Ascending Node, and so the Moon continues to orbit around the Earth up and down.

Why would it look like a ring of light?

An eclipse occurs only when the sun, moon, and earth are in the same line, and therefore we will expect that to happen only in cases during which the moon is in an ascending or descending node, and since the moon’s presence in the two nodes is a state that does not recur frequently, the eclipse is also not Frequently, add that the inclination of the Earth at a value of 23.4 degrees adds to the matter more opportunity for diversity, because the eclipse may be found in places only on the surface of the Earth, depending on its date.

Now let's learn a little about the nature of the annular eclipse, where we know that the moon, and any other object in the universe, does not orbit in a perfect circle around the Earth, but its orbit resembles an oval shape, sometimes approaching it (perigee), and moving away from it at times (apogee) ), And when an eclipse occurs in the apogee state, the moon’s area in the sky is slightly smaller than the sun, so the outer edges of the sun remain visible during the eclipse to see a wonderful scene, and if the eclipse occurred in the event of the moon in or around the perigee, it is total.

But in some places, the eclipse does not appear entirely or annular but rather partial. To understand the idea, let's return to the last tennis ball experience. The moment a tennis ball covers the lamp, move your head a very small distance to the right or left, here the lamp will appear to you partially, so it happens Himself on the ground, a citizen of Qatar stands perfectly on the line between the sun and the moon, but a citizen in Saudi Arabia turns a little further to the left and sees part of the sun during the eclipse.

When and where do I see it?

Very beautifully, we have finished the theoretical part and it remains to talk with some degree of detail about how to monitor this enjoyable phenomenon with your naked eyes. Qatar, UAE, Oman, Bahrain and some parts of southern Saudi Arabia (looking at the attached map) will be able to fully monitor the annular eclipse. , And the eclipse will be partially seen in the rest of Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Yemen and some parts of Sudan and Somalia.

The astronomical event begins at 05:35 am Doha time, when the moon begins to enter in front of the sun’s body little by little. It appears as if the sun’s body has begun to erode as if a circular shadow passes in front of it, and it continues like this until the eclipse reaches its climax, i.e. the moment of covering The moon is for the sun so that only the edges of the sun remain visible, as if it were a bright ring.

It happens at exactly 6:36 pm (for Qatar, for example, the sunrise will be 20 minutes before it, which means that the eclipse will be with the sunrise), the peak lasts only 220 seconds, and then the moon slowly comes out of the image, in a reverse view of what happened Initially, this continues until 07:50 am, when the eclipse ends completely.

Is an annular eclipse a safe phenomenon for me and my children?

As for contemplation of the phenomenon, you do not need any sophisticated astronomical tools such as telescopes or magnifying glasses, but you will undoubtedly need "glasses for eclipses", you will often find them in large libraries in your country, and the institutions responsible for educating people about scientific events will often provide them for free, in In any case, you cannot prolong looking at the sun with your naked eyes, as this may be very harmful to her.

At that point, let's start with the warnings, as people think that the sun glasses or these plastic coils that are used to take X-ray pictures in hospitals or anything like that might obscure the eclipse glasses, can be used, but that is not true, because these things do not have filters to protect you. From harmful UV rays, so you must abide by the permissible tools.

On the other hand, you can monitor the eclipse through the telescope or binoculars, and there are two ways to do this. Either use a special "solar filter" that you get from markets for scientific instruments or libraries, or you can only direct the telescope to the sun and do not look at it directly, but rather. Just put a white sheet in front of his eyepiece so you see a picture of the eclipse on it, as if that paper was your eye.

An eclipse is a completely safe phenomenon if you use the right tools, that do not harm your body, and do not cause depression, earthquakes, volcanoes, wars, or zombies leaving their dens, the end of the world, or any of the rumors that will spread in The days adjacent to the eclipse, just prepare yourself for a fun phenomenon, and do not bother for more than that, and you can - if you like - use the phenomenon as an opportunity to support your children's love of astronomy and reading about it, and what books most talk to children about phenomena like those in public libraries, and you can search in YouTube about homework activities to explain the eclipse to your children.

Astronomical phenomena such as eclipses, eclipses, meteors showers, etc. are a free, heavenly offer, a cinema that opens its doors to humans every day, but unfortunately we turn a blind eye to them, or forget them while we live in a crowded, confused world, inhabited by quarterly reports, monthly checks, red lines of delivery, and intense disputes between us in public transportation Or social media about nothing, leave it all aside for a moment, it will be really fun and inspiring to bring together family, friends and loved ones to follow one of the coolest scenes on the morning of next December 26.