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What is solar eclipse?
An eclipse of the Surya grahan can occur at New Moon when the Moon passes between Sun and Earth. If the Moon's comes inline and it's shadow fall upon earth, we see Sun's is covered or 'eclipsed' by the Moon.
A total solar eclipse will darken some of Earth's skies on Friday. The total blotting out of the sun, which occurs when the moon's dark inner shadow falls on parts of the Earth
It can only be seen in mostly Canada, the tip of Greenland, parts of Russia, China and Mongolia, including the famed Gobi desert. This eclipse at its peak will last for 2 minutes and 27 seconds.
- The dark blue double line indicates the path of Total Solar Eclipse.
- The light blue grid area of partial eclipse which includes India and Nepal.
(image from
NASA)
A partial solar eclipse will be visible in parts of India and will start at 4:03 p.m. in New Delhi on Friday, the government's Press Information Bureau said.
People can view it from their homes provided they employed sufficient safety measures and avoided looking at the sun directly, he said.
Solar filters, projection of the image on a piece of paper are some of the ways that people can view the eclipse without harming their eyes.
A partial eclipse will be visible throughout India. It will be visible mainly in the northeastern region including Kolkata and other major towns. The best view will be at Sibsagar. It will also be a partial eclipse in Nepal.
In New Delhi, it would be visible from 4.03 pm to 5.56 pm and more than 50 percent of the Sun would be covered by moon. In Chennai, it would be visible from 4.40 pm to 6.08 pm and nearly 25% of sun will be covered by noon. This is the peak monsoon season and heavy rain is predicted in most parts of India on Friday and this might keep the solar event hidden behind the clouds.
Generally most Hindu temples remain closed during the period of solar eclipse and temples reopen on the next day morning after special pujas and rituals.
The eclipse will end at 06.04 pm.Usually, Hindus do not perform any work during Surya Grahan and they purify themselves by taking a bath and chants the Ashtakshara Mantra dedicated to Shri Krishna. Ashtakshara mantra is ‘Shri Krishna ha sharnam mama.’
A total solar eclipse begins at 6:09 pm China time near the windswept high grasslands northeast of the small hamlet of Yiwu, about two hours north of Hami in the Xinjiang province of China. As in the total solar eclipses of 1999, 2001, and 2006, a team of Exploratorium and NASA heliophysics experts will adeptly capture and broadcast the Eclipse live from yet another specially chosen international locale. Like the Olympics, the thrills of live viewership can still be yours even if you can't travel to China for this major celestial event. Thanks to satellite technology, you can watch it from your planetarium or local museum -- or even from home at your computer screen.
Live from NASA TV | Total solar eclipse 2008 live from China
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Next year's total solar eclipse - July 22, 2009 - will be more southern and last the longest of the 21st Century: 6 minutes, 39 seconds. But it will be during monsoon season and can be seen, only if the weather cooperates, in India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, China and the Pacific Ocean.
The next three total solar eclipses are:
There is also a Chandra Grahan (lunar eclipse) on August 16, 2008.
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From:Diffent media
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