34 ASTRONOMY • JANUARY 2020That town will experience 1 minute
5 seconds of annularity. But the place
with the easiest access is the capital city
of Sana’a, which has 4 million inhabitants
and lies only 19 miles (30 km) northwest
of the center line. A quick trip to the
Khawlan District will yield 1 minute
4 seconds under the Moon’s antumbra.
As the eclipse progresses through
Yemen, the northern extent of the
antumbra encounters a tiny part of Saudi
Arabia south and east of the border town
of Al Wadiah. Although this strip is
barely 30 miles (50 km) long, Saudi resi-
dents who position themselves on the
road at the border crossing could experi-
ence up to 37 seconds of annularity.
The eclipse path begins its second trek
through Saudi Arabia near the town of
Al Kharkhir. For residents there, the
annular phase will last 28 seconds, but
anyone who travels just 19 miles (30 km)
west along Highway 180 can gain an
additional 30 seconds. The center line of
the antumbra leaves Saudi Arabia at the
Oman border northeast of the village of
Ardah at 5h31m07s UT.The eclipse begins in Oman in a des-
ert region devoid of cities or even small
towns. Climate data points to extremely
hot, dry days, with the average cloud
cover below 5 percent. The country’s
capital, Muscat, a city of 1.7 million,
lies northwest of the path of annularity.
Even so, the residents there will enjoy
near-umbral darkness as the Moon cov-
ers 98 percent of the Sun’s disk. Venus
should stand out well at mideclipse.Spanning southern Asia
After the antumbra spends 10 min-
utes 51 seconds traversing the Gulf of
Oman, it enters Pakistan southeast of
the small town of Kappar. The eclipse
path through this country of some
200 million people stretches some
675 miles (1,085 km).
Unfortunately, it misses Pakistan’s
most populous cities, Karachi and
Lahore, by more than 100 miles
(160 km). Inhabitants of these cities
will have similar views: If they choose
to stay at home, residents will experience
a 93 percent partial eclipse. The largestcities in the path of annularity are
Larkana and Sukkur in Sindh province.
At 6h17m48s UT, annularity begins in
India only a few miles northwest of the
town of Gharsana. Unfortunately, most of
the country’s 1.3 billion people live south
of the path. That said, the northern edges
of the capital city, New Delhi, with its
metro area of some 26 million residents,
lies within 62 miles (100 km) of the cen-
ter line. Travelers taking Highway 44 to a- This photographer
equipped his camera
with a timer to record
almost all of the May 20,
2012, eclipse. He used a
solar filter except for the
final scene shot at
sunset. CHRIS SCHUR
2. Pinhole projections
through the leaves of
trees often create
images of the partially
eclipsed Sun. During
the eclipse of May 20,
2012, the photographer
captured many of them
decorating his dog,
Chloe. TAMARA DORSO
3. Creative thinking
often leads to a cool
and unusual shot. Here,
photographer Katie
Darby holds up a solar
filter to show an annular
solar eclipse in process,
along with the scene
at the viewing site.
BEN COOPER
4. This closer look at the
path through the Middle
East and Asia shows
where the eclipse will
appear annular and
where it’s partial (and
to what percentage).
MICHAEL ZEILER
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