"Doha seems the easiest," agrees Mike Kentrianakis, American Astronomical Society Eclipse Project Manager, a member of the Amateur Astronomers Association of New York, and a veteran of over 20 solar eclipses. "Otherwise the UAE and Oman is the way to go, with optimal cloudiness and mobility, though desert fog can be an issue." "Qatar appears to be the only remaining solution, although the Sun at about 3° is already a bit too high," says Paris-based Xavier Jubier, a member of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) Working Group on Solar Eclipses and keeper of the go-to eclipse maps website. Doha is the hub airport for Qatar Airways, so easy to reach, and by lucky chance, the northern limit of annularity crosses through the city. Tezel plans to seek a spot in the Qatar desert, and if there is indeed a low layer of cloud, he will try to watch from a skyscraper in Doha. Schoppmeyer will, therefore, base himself in Abu Dhabi, and watch from near the border to Qatar the northern limit is also only about 90 minutes drive southwest of Abu Dhabi in the UAE, and only two hours from Dubai. Map data © Google Imagery © 2019 TerraMetrics 2019 from Xavier Jubier's solar eclipse maps website Xavier Jubier. The path of annularity across the Arabian Peninsula at sunrise and early morning on December 26. "In my opinion, it will be better to have the Sun a little bit higher in the sky for this eclipse or you may miss annularity." That, and the fact that women are not even allowed to enter the country unless they will be met at the airport by a husband, a sponsor or male relative.īesides, Schoppmeyer's previous trips to the area tell him that a dust layer on the horizon, around 1-2° high, is common. "I have big concerns about free traveling and scouting in Saudi Arabia," says Schoppmeyer, who thinks that a bunch of eclipse-chasers driving around the desert looking for a good observation spot could make the authorities suspicious. "Now I'm planning to fly to Doha, Qatar two days before the eclipse to try to find a clear enough view of the annularity about 2° above the horizon." "I had been planning for an annular eclipse viewing at sunrise from Saudi Arabia, east of Riyadh, but after what happened with Jamal Kashoggi, I abandoned the idea," says Tunç Tezel, an amateur astronomer and astrophotographer from Turkey who's seen 10 total solar eclipses and two annular solar eclipses ( check out his incredible ‘Ring of Fire over Monument Valley’ image from 2013 ). It's for that reason that eclipse-chasers are already making plans to visit Saudi Arabia to witness the event at sunrise. "The eclipse in Guam is not really a sunset eclipse because at annularity the Sun is still 13 ° above the horizon." A 'Ring of Fire' will actually set in the Pacific, witnessed by few, if any people.Ī rare annular solar eclipse casts an eerie light over the New Mexico landscape, Getty "Guam is an interesting destination, but for Europeans not easy to reach," says Jörg Schoppmeyer, an eclipse-chaser from Germany who's seen 52 eclipses including 15 annular solar eclipses. island territory in Micronesia in the Western Pacific. However, finding a 'Ring of Fire' sunset is not a viable option on December 26 because it will east of Guam, a U.S. Besides, if you observe an annular solar eclipse when the spectacle is high in the sky, it's really only possible to see and photograph a rudimentary ring-on-black eclipse. Not only is it more colorful and easier to photograph, but compositions can have a foreground. Not that eclipse-chasers would ever aim to watch an eclipse through clouds, and besides, annular solar eclipses are best watched at sunrise or sunset if at all possible. From everywhere else in the shaded area a partial solar eclipse will be visible. boomerang shape is the central 'path of annularity' where a 'Ring of Fire' will be visible from. This map from shows the path of the annular solar eclipse on Dec.
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