A day after the world celebrates Xmas on December 25, a partial solar eclipse will be visible in India along with several other countries.
This will be an annular solar eclipse in some parts of India and elsewhere which happens on December 26, 2019 when the Moon covers the Sun’s centre, leaving the sun’s visible outer edges to form a "ring of fire" or annulus - around the moon, said the Union Science and Technology Ministry in a statement here.
From India, annular phase will be visible in the morning after sunrise from some places within a narrow corridor of southern part of the country (parts of Karnataka, Kerala & Tamil Nadu) and it will be seen as partial solar eclipse from the rest part of the country.
The narrow corridor of annular phase of the eclipse will pass through the southern part of the country through certain places like Cannanore, Coimbatore, Kozhikode, Madurai, Mangalore, Ooty, Tiruchirappalli etc.
"As one moves towards the north and south of the country from the annular path, the duration of the partial eclipse decreases.
"Obscuration of the Sun by the Moon at the time of greatest phase of partial eclipse will be around 90 per cent in Bangalore, 85 per cent in Chennai, 79 per cent in Mumbai, 45 per cent in Kolkata, 45 per cent in Delhi, 42 per cent in Patna, 33 percent in Guwahati, 70 percent in Port Blair, 35 per cent in Silchar etc," said the statement.
Considering the Earth as a whole the partial phase of the eclipse will begin at 8 am. The annular phase will begin at 9.06 minutes.
The next solar eclipse will be visible from India on June 21, 2020. It will be an annular solar eclipse. A narrow path of annularity will pass through northern part of India.
A solar eclipse occurs on a new moon day when the Moon comes in between the Earth and the Sun and when all the three objects are aligned. An annular solar eclipse will occur when the angular diameter of the Moon falls short of that of the sun so that it cannot cover up the latter completely. As a result a ring of the sun’s disk remains visible around the moon.