An annular solar eclipse, wherein the sun appears like a ring of fire, is currently underway but cloudy skies are likely to play spoilsport for sky gazers in the national capital. The annular phase began at 10.19 a.m. and will end at 2.02 p.m.

The annular phase was visible on the morning of June 21 from some places in the northern part of the country (parts of Rajasthan, Haryana and Uttarakhand). Few prominent places within this narrow annularity path are Dehradun, Kurukshetra, Chamoli, Joshimath, Sirsa and Suratgarh.

The rest of the country will see a partial solar eclipse.

The annular path also passes through Congo, Sudan, Ethiopia, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Pakistan, and China.

Also read: In pictures: The ‘ring of fire’ eclipse

Obscuration of the sun by the moon, at the time of greatest phase of partial eclipse, will be around 94% in Delhi.

N. Rathnashree, Director of Nehru Planetarium, said visibility of the eclipse was being hampered due to the cloudy weather.

The next annular eclipse will be seen from South America in December. Another annular eclipse will occur in 2022, but that will be hardly visible from India, Ms. Rathnashree added.

A solar eclipse occurs on a new-moon day, when the moon comes in between the earth and the sun and when all the three celestial bodies are aligned.

An annular solar eclipse occurs when the angular diameter of the moon falls short of the diameter of the sun, thus covering the latter only partially. As a result, a ring of the sun’s disk remains visible around the moon. This gives the image of a ring of fire.

Ms. Rathnashree cautioned that eclipsed sun should not be viewed with the naked eye, even for a short duration, as it could cause permanent damage leading to blindness.