Year's last total solar eclipse to occur today

Lahore: Days after the world witnessed the longest partial lunar eclipse in over 500 years, stargazers are going to witness another celestial event as a total solar eclipse will occur today. 

According to Javed Iqbal, director of the Institute of Space and Science, the eclipse will start at 10:29 in the morning according to Pakistani time while the total eclipse will take place at 12 noon.

The eclipse will end at 2:37 p.m.

However, the eclipse will not be visible in Pakistan

The partial phase of the solar eclipse will be visible in southern parts of Australia, New Zealand, Africa, and South America, and the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Ocean. Antarctica will be the only place to witness a Total Solar Eclipse.

This will be the last Solar Eclipse of the year and the next total solar eclipse will occur on April 20, 2023.

What is a Total Solar Eclipse?

A Total Solar Eclipse occurs when the New Moon comes between the Sun and Earth and casts the darkest part of its shadow, the umbra, on Earth. A solar eclipse has five different phases from beginning to end. The first phase is the beginning of the partial eclipse when the Moon becomes visible over the Sun's disk. The second phase is the total eclipse when the moon covers the entire disk of the Sun.

The third phase of the eclipse is when the Moon completely covers the disk of the Sun. Only the Sun's corona is visible, this is called maximum eclipse. It is this phase when the sky goes dark. The next phase marks the beginning of the end of the eclipse with the Moon moving away letting the Sun reappear. The eclipse ends with the Moon completely away from the Sun's disk.