People in Tamil Nadu will, on June 21, get to witness a partial solar eclipse, considered a rare event. Sky-gazers in some parts of north India will get to watch the annular eclipse. The annular eclipse will be visible in Rajasthan, Haryana and Uttarakhand.
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This year, the Tamil Nadu Science and Technology Centre has not made arrangements for people to watch the partial solar eclipse in Chennai. Its executive director, S. Soundararajaperumal said arrangements were not made as the complete lockdown period is in effect.
In Chennai, only a partial phase of the eclipse will be visible -- 34% of the disk of the sun will be covered by the moon at the maximum eclipse. The partial eclipse will begin at 10.22 a.m. and end at 1.41 p.m. in Chennai. People in other places such as Vellore and Coimbatore can witness the eclipse a few minutes earlier, Mr. Soundararajaperumal said.
The Centre has advised people that it is unsafe to observe the sun directly as it may lead to eye injuries. One of the safe methods to watch the eclipse is through projections. Binoculars or small telescopes can be used to project a magnified image of the sun on a white card.
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