Annular Solar Eclipse 2012: What Time Will It Start On May 20?

Annular Solar Eclipse 2012 Time

An annular solar eclipse, also known as a "Ring of Fire" eclipse, is set to occur on May 20, 2012.

If you're wondering what time the rare eclipse will start, reports say it will be at 20:56 UTC and will end at 02:49 UTC on May 21.

However, according to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), it will be visible only within a 240-300 kilometer-wide track that traverses eastern Asia, the northern Pacific Ocean and the western United States. It will start in eastern Asia -  in southern China, Japan, Hong Kong, and Taiwan- and will then move eastward across the Pacific before entering the California-Oregon area. The Moon's shadow passes in the late afternoon over Nevada, Utah, Arizona, a corner of Colorado, New Mexico, and the annular eclipse ends at sunset in Texas.

A partial eclipse will also be visible in the following areas: most of eastern China, the Philippines, Korea, Japan, Siberia, Alaska, Canada, Hawaii, Mexico and much of the United States except for the eastern seaboard, NASA says.

Experts are reminding everyone not to look directly at the eclipsed sun or they can get a serious eye injury. One should wear specially made protective glasses that is available for purchase online or create his own contraption by punching a small pinhole in a cardboard box.

A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partially obscuring the image of the Sun as viewed from the Earth. An annular solar eclipse occurs when the Sun and Moon are exactly in line, but the apparent size of the Moon is smaller than that of the Sun, resulting to the so-called "ring of fire."

The phenomenon is said to occur rarely. The last recorded annular eclipse in the United States was on May 10, 1994 and the next one is projected to occur in October 2023.