The moon will cross in front of the Sun for around four hours on Saturday, creating a partial solar eclipse that careful skygazers will able to see in parts of the Northern Hemisphere.
The eclipse will stretch from eastern Canada to northern Russia, and potentially be visible in most of Europe and some areas of northeastern North America and northwest Africa, according to France’s Paris Observatory.
The eclipse will begin at 0850 GMT on Saturday and end at 1243 GMT.
The relatively rare celestial event occurs when the Sun, Moon and Earth all line up. A total solar eclipse is when the moon totally blots out the Sun, creating an eerie twilight.
The Moon will cover at most 90 percent of the Sun in some northern latitudes, turning the Sun’s rays into “cold light”.
The maximum amount of eclipse will be visible in northeastern Canada and Greenland at 1047 GMT.
It will be less spectacular in other areas. In France, for example, between 10 to 30 percent of the Sun’s disc will be obscured, depending on the region.
People wanting to see the moon apparently take a bite out of the Sun will need to take precautions.
Looking straight at the Sun – during an eclipse or otherwise – can lead to irreversible vision loss.
