An annular solar eclipse occurred at the Moon’s ascending node of orbit on Sunday, June 21, 2020,[1][2][3][4][5][6][7] with a magnitude of 0.994. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partly obscuring the Sun for a viewer on Earth. An annular solar eclipse occurs when the Moon's apparent diameter is smaller than the Sun's, blocking most of the Sun's light and causing the Sun to look like an annulus (ring). An annular eclipse appears as a partial eclipse over a region of the Earth thousands of kilometres wide. Occurring about 6.2 days after apogee (on June 15, 2020, at 1:55 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was smaller.[8]

The effect of the solar eclipse (Moon shadow) on Terra satellite image In this photo, the shadow of the Moon has fallen over Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan. date: 2020-06-21
The path of this annular eclipse passed through parts of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Sudan, Ethiopia, and Eritrea in Africa; the southern Arabian Peninsula, including Yemen, Oman, and southern Saudi Arabia; parts of South Asia and the Himalayas, including southern Pakistan and northern India; and parts of East Asia, including South China and Taiwan.[9] A partial eclipse was visible throughout much of the rest of Africa, Southeast Europe, most of Asia, and in New Guinea and northern Australia just before sunset. In Europe, the partial eclipse was visible to places southeast of the line passing through parts of Italy, Hungary, Ukraine, and southwestern Russia.[9]
Animated path of the eclipse
Animation of images from
Himawari 8 showing the Moon's shadow moving across the Earth.