2 eclipses, but none visible in Kuwait

16/02/2026

KUWAIT CITY, Feb 16: The Al-Ojeiri Scientific Center announced that Kuwait’s skies will witness an annular solar eclipse on Tuesday, followed by a total lunar eclipse on March 3, reports Al-Seyassah daily. Director of the Al-Ojeiri Scientific Center Yousef Al- Ojeiri told the Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) on Monday that the annular solar eclipse will occur around 3:00 pm Kuwait time on Tuesday, but will not be visible from Kuwait He explained that the main path of the annular eclipse will be centered over Antarctica and will extend to parts of South Africa and Chile.

This will be the first solar eclipse visible globally this year. An annular eclipse is characterized by an optical phenomenon known as a “ring of fire,” where the moon does not completely cover the sun’s disk due to its relative distance from Earth, leaving a bright ring around the dark lunar disk. The path of the annular eclipse extends approximately 4,282 kilometers.

The eclipse will be partially visible across a wide geographical area, with the sun appearing partially obscured by the moon in regions including all of Antarctica, Southeast Africa, the southern tip of South America, and large parts of the Pacific, Indian, Atlantic, and Southern Oceans. The highest percentage of solar disk coverage will reach about 88 percent in the Australian Heard and McDonald Islands, as well as in the French Southern Territories and Antarctica. Regarding the total lunar eclipse, Al-Ojeiri explained that the moon will turn a dark red color, known as a “blood moon”.

This phenomenon will last for about 58 minutes and will be visible in parts of western North America, Australia, New Zealand, and East Asia. The total lunar eclipse will occur on Tuesday, March 3, at approximately 2:00 pm Kuwait time, but it will not be visible from Kuwait. Visibility will be concentrated over the Pacific Ocean and western North America. He highlighted that about 1.5 percent of the moon’s diameter will enter the Earth’s shadow, leading to the complete disappearance of the moon’s disk at the peak of the eclipse.