‘Ring of fire’ solar eclipse sweeps across India, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines

The phenomenon, known as an annular eclipse, occurs when the Moon is not close enough to the Earth to completely obscure the Sun

It was visible on Thursday along a path that’s 118 kilometres wide, covering Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines

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Children wear special glasses to look at a solar eclipse in Banda Aceh, Indonesia on December 26, 2019. Photo: EPA-EFE

Published: 9:32am, 26 Dec 2019Updated: 9:26pm, 26 Dec 2019

Sky watchers in Southeast Asia were treated to a rare “ring of fire” solar eclipse on Thursday, which occur when the moon is not close enough to the Earth to completely obscure the sun.

The phenomenon – known as an annular eclipse – was visible along a path 118 kilometres wide, stretching from Saudi Arabia and Oman to India, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines.

While these types of eclipses occur every year or two, they are only visible from a narrow band of Earth each time and it can be decades before the same pattern is repeated.

The moon covers the sun in a rare ‘ring of fire’ solar eclipse as seen from the southern Indian city of Dindigul in Tamil Nadu. Photo: AFP

The ring effect lasted longest just east of the Indonesian island of Pulau Gin Besar, according to astronomy news website Space.com, but – weather permitting – it was also visible across Indonesia’s Sumatra and Sarawak, in Singapore and from just south of General Santos City in the Philippines.

Hundreds of amateur astronomers and photographers set up by Singapore’s harbour for what some described as a “once in a lifetime” event.

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