Millenium’s longest Annular Solar Eclipse seen in Africa, India

Lakhs of enthusisasts witnessed the celestial spectacle of the longest annular Solar eclipse of the millenium, in parts of India on Jan 15 2009 during the mid day. An annular eclipse occurs when the Moon passes in front of the Sun but does not completely obscure it.

The Moon’s shadow first struck the southwestern tip of Chad and western Central African Republic at 0514 GMT and then reached Uganda, Kenya, and Somalia before racing across Bangladesh, India, Myanmar and China.

AFP reports that The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) launched three small rockets on Thursday and will fire a further five on Friday to study the effects of the event on the atmosphere.”We will compare the data obtained on normal days with data during and immediately after the eclipse to study the difference,” the ISRO official said.

Last time India saw this ‘Ring of Fire’ was Nov 22, 1965. The maximum duration of the eclipse would be 11 minutes 8 seconds over the Indian Ocean, making it the longest annular eclipse of the millennium.

“People in southern parts of the country, especially in Dhanushkodi near Rameshwaram, will be lucky to see the heavenly sight of ‘Ring of Fire’. The eclipse will be best viewed at Dhanushkodi for duration of 10 minutes and 13 seconds,” said N. Ratnashree, director of the Nehru Planetarium in Delhi.

The annular eclipse of the sun was visible from within a 300-km wide track that traversed half of the earth.

The central path then continued into Asia through the extreme southern part of India, Bangladesh, Myanmar and China. A partial eclipse was seen within the much broader path, including entire India, and Bangladesh.