A partial solar eclipse is set to take place in the early hours of Tuesday 29 April, which will see the Sun transform into a "ring of fire".

The event will be the first solar eclipse of the year, a phenomenon which occurs during a new moon when it passes between Earth and the Sun.

It is an annular solar eclipse, which occurs when the moon is farthest away from our planet. Rather than a total eclipse, an annular solar eclipse occurs when the moon is farthest away from our planet. It is so small that it is unable to completely cover the Sun, leaving the so-called "ring of fire" around the outside of the moon - called an annulus.

The moon will appear to cover the Sun from 6am GMT (7am BST and 2am EDT), but the event will only be partially visible to viewers in certain areas of the world. Northern Australia will have the best view, as according to Space.com, less moon will cover the Sun.

In Sydney, the eclipse will begin at 4.14pm (local time) and will be approximately 52% covered at 5.15pm. In Perth, the event will begin at 1.17pm and will end at 3.59pm. The eclipse can also be seen in Tasmania. In Hobart, it will begin at 3.51pm.

Related

However, skygazers across the globe can witness the celestial event courtesy of webcasts by the Slooh Community Telescope, via YouTube. The Virtual Telescope Project will also showcase the event, which it states is a "very rare, non-central eclipse".

The Slooh webcast will be held by Geoff Fox and Paul Cox, an observatory director. It will feature Dr. Lucie Green, a BBC contributor and researcher at the Mullard Space Science Laboratory, UCL's Department of Space and Climate Physics.

As reported by Universetoday.com, this means that the centre of the Moon's shadow, known as the antumbra during an annular eclipse, will "just miss Earth and instead pass scant kilometres above the Antarctic continent".

The solar eclipse coincides with Global Astronomy Month, organised annually in April by Astronomers Without Borders. It is the largest global celebration of astronomy and brings together enthusiasts across the world with the motto "One People, One Sky".

In order to safely view the eclipse, a filter (available from science centres) can be purchased as they cannot be made from ordinary materials. You can also use a pinhole camera, which is essentially a life-proof box in which light from a scene passes through a small aperture, which projects an inverted image on the opposite side of the box.

A partial solar eclipse has the highest potential to cause severe eye damage, as the Sun is never entirely covered by the moon.