The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Total solar eclipse

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Mar 28, 2006

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Total solar eclipse

Lalithasai

CHENNAI: A total solar eclipse will occur on March 29. The moon's shadow will sweep across a narrow corridor traversing half the earth. Along the track of this shadow will be a total eclipse. Generally, the path of totality is over 12,000 km long.

According to P. Iyamperumal, Executive Director, Birla Planetarium, Chennai, the eclipse will only be partial in India and that too only in the northern States. It will be visible in Jaipur, Hardwar, New Delhi, Amritsar, Allahabad and Bhopal from 5.15 p.m. to 6.04 p.m. By this time the eclipse is almost over. Being summer, spectators may be able to catch a glimpse of the eclipsed sun.

"In New Delhi, we can witness about 17.4 per cent of the sun covered by the Moon, whereas in places of the southern limits of the penumbra, like Nagpur and Nasik, less than one per cent of the sun will be covered. The eclipse will not be visible in Tamil Nadu," he said.

This time, the path of the darker shadow of the moon called the umbra will pass through Brazil, Atlantic Ocean, Northern Africa and central Asia, Mr. Iyamperumal said. These areas fall under a very narrow band having a width of not more than 300 km. People in these regions will feel the sun completely obscured by the moon.

Globally, the eclipse begins at 13.07 hours (IST) and ends at 18.15 hours (IST).

These partial eclipses are seen in the much broader path of the moon's penumbral shadow. This region will be about 7,000 km wide. According to the director, the solar eclipse belongs to the 139 Saros series. A saros series is one in which similar eclipses happens every 18 years 11.3 days. Solar eclipses occur only on new moon days when the moon passes between the earth and the sun.

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