PAKISTAN SPACE & UPPER ATMOSPHERE RESEARCH COMMISSION
(SUPARCO)
Headquarters
Solar Eclipse of 21 May 2012
The first solar eclipse of year will occur on 21 May which is annular type (Ring like)
eclipse. The eclipse will not be visible from Pakistan. It will be visible from eastern Asia,
(including China and Japan), Northern Pacific Ocean and Western United States. The partial
eclipse will be visible from much broader area of Asia, the Pacific Ocean and 2/3 of western
North American continent.
Timings of different stages of the solar eclipse are as under:
Stages of the Eclipse
Beginning of Partial Eclipse
Beginning of Annular Eclipse
First instant of complete Annular Eclipse
Middle Stage of complete Annular Eclipse
Last instant of Complete Annular Eclipse
End of Annular Eclipse
End of Partial Eclipse
Time of occurrence (PST)
01:56 AM
03:06 AM
03:11 AM
04:53 AM
06:33 AM
06:39 AM
07:49 AM
Explanation of Annular Eclipse:
Generally a Total Solar Eclipse occurs when the Moon passes directly between the Earth and the Sun,
blocking the view of the Sun completely, (being apparently of same size of both objects i.e. the Sun and
the Moon), where as an Annular Eclipse occurs when the Moon is too small to cover the entire area of
the Sun disk. It is a solar eclipse but not Total Solar Eclipse. As a result the rim of the Sun disk remains
visible around the dark disk of the Moon. Which makes for an annular or ring round the Moon disk, and
hence this type of eclipse is called Annular eclipse
A typical Annular Solar Eclipse
Sky
Sun
Sun appears like
a bright ring
Moon
A typical Annular Solar Eclipse appears when Sun is not fully covered by Moon, due to apparent small size of
Moon. The apparent size of Moon depends on distance between Earth and Moon,
and it varies with the passage of time, due to its elliptical orbit.
Sector 28, Gulzar-e-Hijri, Off University Road, P.O. Box. 8402, Karachi-75270, PAKISTAN
Ph: 4690765- 79 (Ext: 2249) Fax: 92-21-4644928, 4694941 E-mail: am.pr@suparco.gov.pk