A total solar eclipse will occur on Friday, March 20, but sky-gazers in the country will not be able to watch it. This will be the first eclipse in the year when the moon will pass between the sun and the earth.
Ujjain based Jiwaji Observatory's Superintendent Rajendra Prakash Gupt while taling to The Pioneer said, “The total solar eclipse would not be visible in any part of India. However, the celestial event will be seen in Europe, Atlantic Ocean and Africa.”
Gupt further said that the solar eclipse will start at 1.10 PM and end at 5.20 PM, according to Indian Standard Time (IST). The eclipse will be at its peak at 3.15 PM when the moon will fully cover the sun. This condition will last for 2.50 minutes, said the scientist.
Notably, 2015 features four eclipses in all, two total lunars and two solars, with one total solar and one partial solar eclipse. Four is the minimum number of eclipses that can occur in a calendar year, and although North America misses out on the solar eclipse action this time ’round, most of the continent gets a front row seat to the two final total lunar eclipses of the ongoing tetrad on April 4, and September 28.
The March 20 eclipse also occurs only a day after lunar perigee, which falls on March 19. This is also one of the closer lunar perigees for 2015, though the maximum duration of totality for this eclipse is only 2 minutes and 47 seconds.