Solar eclipse

[minisoji]

Kolkata : The longest total solar eclipse of the 21st century on July 22 will provide a rare opportunity to witness the grand cosmic spectacle for the people in west, central, east and north-east India.

The partial phase of the eclipse will be visible throughout the country, according to M P Birla Planetarium Director D P Duari.

Considering the Earth as a whole, the eclipse will begin at 5h 28m IST when the shadow of the Moon will touch the earth at local sunrise at a point in the Arabian sea close to the western coast at Gulf of Cambay, Mr. Duari told PTI.

The eclipse will end at 10h 42m IST when the Moon's shadow finally will leave the Earth at local sunset at a point in south Pacific Ocean. At about 6h 23m IST, the central path of the eclipse will touch the Earth at sunrise at a point in the Gulf of Khmbhat in the Arabian sea near the southern coast of Gujarat, he said.

At this time, the duration of totality will be about 3m 30s.

The shadow will cross over central India, pass through south-east Nepal, cross North Bengal, southern part of Sikkim, Bhutan and northwestern tip of Bangladesh.

After touching Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, the shadow will touch Myanmar and then enter China.

The maximum duration of totality of 6m 44s occurs at 8h 05m IST in the north Pacific ocean where the width of the path is about 258 km.

The next solar eclipse -- an annular one -- will occur on January 15, 2010.

[atek]

The whole solar eclipse thing is only interesting if its applied to a movie or book. Some kind of fictional setting where their is room for imagination. Other than that its boring and nerdy.

[petchy7]

After touching Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, the shadow will touch Myanmar and then enter China

[Perfection]

An annular eclipse occurs when the Sun and Moon are exactly in line, but the apparent size of the Moon is smaller than that of the Sun. Hence the Sun appears as a very bright ring surrounding the outline of the Moon. Next Annular eclipse is expected to be visible in Dhanushkodi in Rameswaram island, Tamil Nadu, India on January 15, 2010.



Photography

Photographing an eclipse is possible with fairly common camera equipment. In order for the disk of the sun/moon to be easily visible, a fairly high magnification telephoto lens is needed (70-200 mm for a 35 mm camera), and for the disk to fill most of the frame, a longer lens is needed (over 500 mm). As with viewing the sun directly, looking at it through the viewfinder of a camera can produce damage to the retina, so care is advised.

The safest way to view the Sun's disk is by indirect projection. This can be done by projecting an image of the disk onto a
white piece of paper or card using a pair of binoculars (with one of the lenses covered), a telescope, or another piece of
cardboard with a small hole in it (about 1 mm diameter), often called a pinhole camera.

Sunglasses do not make viewing the sun safe. Only properly designed and certified solar filters should ever be used for direct viewing of the Sun's disk.

Total eclipse