Solar eclipse 2009

This solar eclipse will be one of those much waiting celestial phenomenon a total solar eclipse. It will be seen in India  from 5.35 a.m. to 7.25 a.m. of July 22. and there will be a total eclipse for the duration of 6 minutes and 47 seconds.

The solar eclipse that will take place on Wednesday, July 22, 2009 will be a total eclipse of the Sun with a magnitude of 1.080 that will be visible from a narrow corridor through northern India, eastern Nepal, northern Bangladesh, Bhutan, the northern tip of Myanmar, central China and the Pacific Ocean, including the Ryukyu Islands, Marshall Islands and Kiribati.

A total solar eclipse occurs when the moon moves between the sun and the earth, blocking out the sun from the areas in the moon’s shadow. Without the sun’s light, the sky darkens enough for stars to be seen and the corona makes a spectacular halo around the moon.

According to a senior scientist, this solar eclipse will be counted as the third total solar eclipse to be visible in India in the past 15 years, a senior scientist said here. The next total solar eclipse will occur in 2087.

Bharat Adur, director, Akashganga Centre for Astronomy, and a former senior scientist with the Nehru Planetarium says, the sun would be covered up to 95 percent in Mumbai and 80 percent in New Delhi and other north Indian cities, and Bangalore, Chennai and other southern cities, It will be visible in most parts of India in varying degrees of totality, but it Bihar it will be nearly four minutes. In Iwo-Jima, near the Guam Islands in the Far East, its visibility will be as long as six minutes.

Expert Warnings:

It is very important to emphasise that viewing the eclipse with the naked eye would be very dangerous. Viewing the sun through a telescope or a binoculars without a proper filter is many times more dangerous - it could destroy your eyesight

For more warnings and safety tips regarding viewing of  solar eclipes see - safety guidelines before you experience the longer total solar eclipse.