Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Solar Eclipse @ Kanyakumari on 15 Jan 2010



Details about this Eclipse:

* Moon's shadow will cover the sun & you will get to watch the 'Ring of Fire'(Annular solar eclipse occurs when the sun and the moon are exactly in line, but the apparent size of the moon's shadow is smaller than that of the visible disc of the sun. The covered sun, therefore, appears as a 'Ring of Fire', with its rays appearing spread out from the outline of the moon.)

* This is millennium's longest annular solar eclipse that is between 2001 and 3000, maximum duration of the eclipse would be 11 minutes 08 seconds over the Indian Ocean.

* Last time India saw this 'Ring of Fire' was Nov 22, 1965, and it will not be witnessed again before June 21, 2020.

* In India, the eclipse started at around 11 a.m. and ended at around 3:15 p.m. The eclipse first seen in south of Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu and then moved obliquely to Rameshwaram and Dhanushkodi. It moved to Kerala and ended in Mizoram in the northeast.

The path of the moon's shadow begun in Africa at 10.44 a.m. and passed through Chad, Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Kenya, and Somalia. After leaving Africa, the path crossed the Indian Ocean.

The central path then continued into Asia through the extreme southern part of India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, and China.

Update : My friend Sharanu has wonderfully written about our Solar Eclipse @ Kanyakumari Adventure on his blog post : My Romance with Sun

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