Tomorrow, Tuesday, February 17, 2026, the first solar eclipse of the year will take place. This is an annular eclipse, meaning the Moon is too far from Earth to fully cover the Sun. Instead, a bright, fiery ring—called the "ring of fire"—will appear around the Moon's edges. This special event happens when the Moon moves between the Earth and the Sun but looks smaller in the sky. Unfortunately, for people in the UAE, this eclipse will not be visible. The narrow path of annularity mostly crosses Antarctica, and the Sun will be below the horizon in the UAE during the event. So, no darkening skies over the Burj Khalifa this time. The eclipse will start its partial phase at 1:56 PM UAE time (GST) and reach the peak "ring of fire" effect at 4:12 PM UAE time. Viewers in other parts of the world can watch live through streams by NASA or the Virtual Telescope Project, which will broadcast the event from Antarctic research stations. If you miss this eclipse, don't worry. Another total solar eclipse will happen on August 12, 2026, visible across parts of Europe like Spain and Iceland. This eclipse, though still not visible from UAE, is closer geographically and might draw eclipse watchers from the region. Besides solar eclipses, 2026 will also offer other amazing celestial events like lunar eclipses and meteor showers, some visible from the UAE sky.