SIKKIM AND SOLAR ECLIPSE THIS 22 JULY 2009

SIKKIM: Last total solar eclipse in your lifetime


Gangtok
11 June 2009

Miss this and you won’t see another in your lifetime. India will be in the path of a total solar eclipse on July 22 and the next one to pass by will be 105 years later.

A large part of Sikkim will be able to witness the total eclipse this time. The next total solar eclipse that can be viewed from India will happen on June 3, 2114.

The eclipse will begin at 6:23 am in India’s Gulf of Cambay and last till 7:30 am. The total eclipse will last nearly four minutes from 6.26 am to 6.30 am when the sun will not be visible at all. “This is quite a long duration. At places where the eclipse is total, people will be able to witness the phenomenal diamond ring’,” said Debiprosad Duari, director, research and academics, of the MP Birla Planetarium.

A total eclipse occurs when the moon covers the sun. The patch of earth on which the shadow of the moon falls experiences an eclipse, Duari said. “The diamond ring’ is seen just before a complete eclipse. When you see the sun getting covered, a small bright spot stands out and looks exactly like a diamond ring.”

Not all places will see the eclipse in totality and will have to be content with witnessing a partial eclipse.

The first to view the total eclipse will be Surat. “The umbral shadow will move at a tremendous speed and pass through Vadodara, Indore, Ujjain, Bhopal, Varanasi, Gaya, Patna, Darjeeling, Siliguri, Gangtok, Dibrugarh and Itanagar,” explained Duari. North Bengal (Jalpaiguri, Siliguri, Cooch Behar, Alipurduar, Darjeeling, Raiganj and Dinhata towns) and Sikkim will see total eclipse. South Bengal, including Kolkata, will see 91% eclipse, deemed “near total”. Mumbai will see 90% eclipse and Delhi 85%.

The Planetarium and Positional Astronomy Centre are the two primary organizations that predict all celestial happenings along with their timings and specialities. This time, the Planetarium has worked out the timings for viewing the solar eclipse for at least 400 places and has also prepared guidelines as to how the eclipse should be viewed.

The eclipse should never be viewed with the naked eye. It will cause irreparable damage to the cornea, Duari said. When the eclipse is in progress, it should be viewed through a solar filter or a No. 14 welder’s glass. “If you stare at the sun at the time of the eclipse for just six to eight seconds, the cornea can get burnt,” Duari warned.