Moon to Obscure Sunlight Across City in Rare Celestial Event Today

Moon to Obscure Sunlight Across City in Rare Celestial Event Today
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Black cats, the number 13, walking under ladders - and eclipses - all considered omens of doom. The superstitious - or particularly unlucky - among us may therefore want to stay indoors today, as Pakistan witnesses a celestial portent in the form of a solar eclipse.Solar eclipses happen when the moon passes between the sun and earth, obstructing light.However, it is unusual for the moon to completely obscure the sun as is expected to happen on Friday.The result? A total solar eclipse - an event that occurs somewhere on earth less than 10 times a decade.Beginning around 2pm, Lahoris will be able to see the eclipse peak at 4:26pm and end by 6:40pm. Those in Pakistan hoping for a full eclipse will be disappointed - the earth's curvature means a total eclipse can only be seen within a narrow band of about 230 kilometers, which Pakistan falls outside of.The finest views of the moment of totality will be seen in China and Siberia. Pakistan will see only a partial eclipse.The superstitious nature of the earth's inhabitants means that culturally, solar eclipses have in the past been deemed portents, associated with the death of monarchs, birth defects, famine, war or natural disasters.Worriers, however, should take comfort in the fact that such eclipses take place roughly every two years at different places over the earth, giving any bad stuff that happens a fair chance of coinciding with an eclipse anyway.Records of solar eclipses date back to before 2000 BC, but their frequency and beauty have prompted a growing acceptability and appetite for eclipse tourism, a vibrant industry that has grown to help budding astronomers find the best views possible, often in remote locations.A greater awareness and interest in astronomy and astronomical events coupled with media coverage and the knowledge of when such events take place have prompted increasing number of people to combine their holidays with celestial happenings.Although a faint chance of a natural disaster occurring exists, it is far more likely people will suffer retinal damage by staring directly at an eclipse with the naked eye.Despite much of the sun's rays disappearing behind the moon, the bright, still-visible corona can cause permanent eye damage (another reason giving birth during an eclipse should be avoided - not through fear of birth defects, but because you may find medical staff diverted by floods of people suffering eye damage after viewing the eclipse using methods they were told not to).Where a total eclipse is visible, observers often see several dramatic lighting effects, the most famous probably being Bailey's Beads, a ring of dots of light sitting along the edges of the moon, as light streams through valleys in the moon's mountainous regions.Even if solar filters are not available, eclipse enthusiasts must

Total Solar Eclipse | Solar Eclipse Information