A partial eclipse of the Sun will be visible across a wide area that includes most of Europe, North Africa, the Arabian peninsula and western Asia on Tuesday.

A solar eclipse happens when the moon crosses the face of the Sun as seen from Earth. During the coming eclipse, however, no place on Earth will see a ‘central’ eclipse – total or annular – so there will be none of the fanfare that always attends such events.

As seen from Malta, about 61% of the sun’s diameter will be hidden at maximum (9:05 a.m). At that time the landscape will be bathed in subdued sunlight. The moon starts to encroach on the Sun’s disk at 7:47 a.m. and leaves it at 10:34 a.m.

The Astronomical Society urged people to never look at the bright surface of the Sun without proper eye protection. The safest way to view this eclipse is to watch the sun’s image projected onto a piece of paper. "Make a small hole in a card with a pencil point and hold a second card a metre or so behind it. The hole will project an inverted image of the Sun onto the lower card."

www.maltastro.org