KARACHI, March 10: There will be a lunar and a solar eclipse during the current month. This was stated by the in charge of the Institute of Space and Planetary Astrophysics (ISPA), University of Karachi, M. Shahid Qureshi, on Friday.

He said the lunar eclipse would occur on March 15 and would start at 02:26am PST and would last till 07:09 PST. He added that it would be a penumbral eclipse and would not be visible anywhere in the world; not even with the help of a telescope.

During the eclipse, the moon, the earth and the sun will not be in a straight line.

The solar eclipse will occur on March 29. It will be visible only partially in various cities of Pakistan at the following hours: Gwadar, begins at 15:39, ends at 17:19; Quetta, begins at 15:44, ends at 17:31; Peshawar, begins at 15:47, ends at 17:38; Islamabad, begins at 15:50, ends at 17:38; Karachi, begins at 15:53, ends at 17:19; Lahore, begins at 15:54, ends at 17:36; Hyderabad, begins at 15:55 and ends at 17:22.

The longest duration of the partial solar eclipse will be in Peshawar, where it will last 1 hour 51 minutes and its magnitude will be a maximum of 47 per cent. The magnitude will be minimum in Karachi and Hyderabad, where it will be only 24 per cent and 21 per cent, respectively.—APP