
Annular solar eclipse on solstice
21 June 2020, 00:00–12:00 UTC


During the 2020 June solstice the shadow of the Moon, travelling from west to east, appeared in the images of three geostationary satellites.
09 August 2021
21 June 2020
By Jan Kanak (SHMU) and Natasa Strelec Mahovic (EUMETSAT)
On 21 June 2020 the Moon reached the space between the Earth and the Sun in its orbit, making it possible to observe a solar eclipse from some places on Earth. Because the angular diameter of the Moon (the Moon apparent size from the Earth) was smaller than that of the Sun at this time, an annular or ring eclipse occurred.
The shadow of the Moon first appeared in the morning over central Africa, advancing northeast across the south of the Arabian Peninsula over southern Asia to China, and gradually disappearing over the Pacific Ocean (Figure 1).
The movement of the Moon's shadow on the Earth's surface was seen by three meteorological satellites: Meteosat-11 at 0° longitude (Figures 2 and 5), Meteosat-8 at 41.5° E (Figures 3 and 6) and Himawari-8 at 140° E (Figures 4 and 7).
Notice the oval shadow that gradually appears in the animations, always over a different part of the Earth, moving from west to east. The most complete course of this phenomenon is captured in the animation of images from the Meteosat-8 satellite, performing the Indian Ocean Data Coverage (IODC) service.
Note: Data from these satellites were received via EUMETCast data service and processed at SHMÚ.
Related content
Solstice solar eclipse shadow moving across southern Asia (CIMSS Blog)
Solar eclipse of June 21, 2020 (Wikipedia)
3D Eclipse Path: Solar Eclipse 2020, 21 June (timeanddate.com)
'Ring of fire' solar eclipse of 2020 dazzles skywatchers across Africa and Asia (Space.com)
An Astronaut’s View of an Annular Eclipse (NASA Earth Observatory)