The partial solar eclipse, observed on October 25, 2022 from a telescope in the district of Mar Mikhael in Beirut. (Credit: Courtesy of Univerciel Lebanon)
A partial solar eclipse will be observable Tuesday between 12:54 p.m. and 3:20 p.m. over Lebanon, the Ministry of Health announced Tuesday, issuing a series of guidelines.
"Lebanon will observe for the first time since 2020 a partial solar eclipse. The moon will hide 37 percent of the sun's surface, between 12:54 [p.m]. and 3:20 [p.m.]," Jean-Pierre Saghbini, president of the Association UniversCiel Lebanon, told L'Orient-Le Jour.
He also said that the eclipse "will reach its peak at 2:09 p.m. and will be observable throughout the territory, but also in other European and Arab countries." According to him, "the next eclipse will be observable from Lebanon on August 2, 2027, when the sun will be covered 77 percent by the moon.
Warnings
Saghbini also said that the association UniversCiel Lebanon "will make available to the public telescopes near the headquarters of Electricity of Lebanon (EDL) in Mar Mikhael to observe this phenomenon."
He stressed that people should "not observe the sun without protection because of the risk of retinal damage that it presents."
The Ministry of Health also echoed this warning Tuesday, "against the risks of looking at the sun directly or through glasses during the eclipse," due to these risks.
Today's eclipse will also be visible from Iceland to India, according to the AFP.
A rare "ring of fire" solar eclipse, coinciding with the summer solstice, was observed from Lebanon on June 21, 2020, as well as in other countries in East Africa and Asia. And in 2011, a partial solar eclipse was seen over Lebanon, as well as in Southwestern Asia, Europe, North Africa, and Central Asia.