MANILA, Philippines — A “ring of fire” will appear in Philippine sky—particularly in the southern part of the country—a day after Christmas.
An annual solar eclipse— when the moon is farthest from Earth—will occur in the afternoon of December 26. Because the moon is farther away than usual from Earth, it appears smaller and does not block the entire view of the sun, forming a “ring of fire” effect or annulus.
Residents in the southernmost part of Davao Occidental will witness an annular solar eclipse. PAGASA said the best sites to observe the phenomenon will be in Balut, Batulaki and Sarangani Island.
All other parts of the Philippines will only witness a partial solar eclipse.
In Manila, the eclipse will begin at 12:32 p.m., reach its maximum at 2:19 p.m. and end at 3:47 p.m.
The annular solar eclipse will also be visible in some parts of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Oman, India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Northern Mariana Islands and Guam.
Sky & Telescope magazine earlier said the phenomenon begins at dawn north of Riyadh in Saudi Arabia with two minutes and 59 seconds of annularity and the greatest eclipse comes in eastern Sumatra.