Witness the Ring of Fire annular solar eclipse on 26th of December this year

At the daybreak on 26 December 2019, there will be an annular solar eclipse, which occurs when a 'micromoon' covers most of the Sun. Though not quite large enough in the sky to cover the whole bright disc of Sun (as happened during the total solar eclipse on August 21, 2017 in the US, this one is going to be a special event. 

Where is this happening?

This map from timeanddate.com shows the path of the annular solar eclipse on December 26, 2019. The boomerang shape is the central "path of annularity" from where a "ring if fire" will be visible. From everywhere else in the shaded area, a partial solar eclipse will be visible. Source: timeanddate.com

Nicknmaed as the "Ring of Fire", the event will be observable at the sunrise in the Arabian Peninsula (Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman and UAE) and later in the day in Southern India, Northern Sri Lanka, Indian Ocean and Indonesia, ending at the sunset in Guam in Pacific Ocean. 

The US will get to see its next annular 'Ring of Fire' solar eclipse on 14 October, 2023 : just 6 months before it will witness its next total solar eclipse on 8 April  2024.

Is it safe to look at? 

Not at all. From the observer point of view, what makes an annular solar eclipse different from a total solar eclipse, is that you must always wear protective solar eclipse glasses to view the event. Similarly, cameras should be fitted with special solar filters.

The only exception to this rule is that if it is viewed from a thin layer of clouds, which is certainly possible to happen. The Arabian peninsula often has mist in the early morning, while much of the rest of the path goes through often cloudy terrain. 

Annular solar eclipse are best watched at sunrise and sunset. Not only it is more colourful and easier to photograph, but compositions can have a foreground. On the other hand, if you observe an annular solar eclipse when the spectacles are high in the sky, it is really only possible to see and photograph only a 'rudimentary ring' on the black eclipse. 

Watching the 'ring of fire' annular eclipse at the sunset is not a viable option on December 26 because it will occur in East of Guam, a US Island territory in Micronesia in Western Pacific. It is an interesting tourist destination, but not easy to reach. 

However, watching the event at sunrise in places like Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi or Dubai in UAE, or Doha in Qatar, are better options. 

There are still a few other options for witnessing this event apart from sunrise. For example, in Oman, it will be visible 9° above the horizon after the sunrise. 

In South and South-Western India, it will be visible from states of Karnataka, Tamilnadu and Kerala. India has two annular solar eclipses in 16 months; the following one is on June 21, 2020 which will be visible across northern India. Another easy-to-reach place is Singapore, right on the northern edge of the path, where cloud is very common though. 

As with all eclipses, it's where you stand that determines what you'll see; eclipse-chasers make their own eclipse experience. All solar-eclipses are predictable and can be mapped thousands of years in advance. 

The only variable is the Sun's radius, which scientists can still not pinpoint (some believe that it is larger than estimated). This makes find that shadow-edge harder than it looks on the map. Another variable is a slight variation in the speed of earth's rotation, which makes far-off predictions of where a shadow will fall tricky.