The solar eclipse of January 15, 2010 is an annular eclipse of the Sun with a magnitude of 0.9190. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partially obscuring Earth’s view of the Sun. An annular solar eclipse occurs when the Moon’s apparent diameter is smaller than the Sun, causing the sun to look like an annulus (ring), blocking most of the Sun’s light. An annular eclipse will appear as partial eclipse over a region thousands of miles wide.

The eclipse will last a total of one and a half hours and will occur Friday, January 15, 2010 at 10:45am Maldivian time, with the moon overlapping the sun at 12:25pm local Maldivian time (12:45pm to 2:25pm local Bangkok time, 1:45pm to 3:25pm in Hong Kong, 11:25am to 12:55pm in Mumbai, 1:45pm to 3:25pm in Shanghai, 1:45pm to 3:25pm in Singapore, 2:45pm to 4:20pm in Tokyo.)

Streamed from the highest point in the capital, viewers coming to this page at 10:45am Maldivian time will observe the sun as it is slowly erased by the the moon, covering the city in darkness.

VISIBILITY :

The eclipse starts at the Central African Republic, traverses Camaroon, Congo and Uganda, passes through Nairobi, Kenya, and enters the Indian Ocean and reachest greatest eclipse.

After that enters Maldives, where it would be the longest on land with 10.8 minutes of viewing. This makes the tiny islands of Maldives the best spot for viewing this eclipse from land. The annular Eclipse at Male’, the capital city of Maldives starts at 12:20:20 hrs and ends 12:30:06 hrs Maldives local time (GMT+5hrs). This is also the longest duration of any city having an international airport in the eclipse track

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Solar eclipse seen January 15

January 11, 2010, 1:24pm

An annular solar eclipse will occur on Friday, January 15, and will be the longest solar eclipse in duration since 1992, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) said Sunday.

“This eclipse will be visible from a track that goes across central Africa, the Indian Ocean, and eastern Asia.

The maximum eclipse occurs in the middle of the Indian Ocean, but the annular phase will still be seen from either Africa or Asia,” PAGASA said in its astronomical diary for January prepared by PAGASA Administrator Dr. Prisco Nilo.

In the Philippines, the event will be observed as a partial solar eclipse.

In Metro Manila, the eclipse will begin at 3:49 p.m. and end at 5:51 p.m. with the maximum eclipse occurring at 4:53 p.m. In Cebu, it will begin at 3:59 p.m., and end at 5:39 p.m. with the maximum eclipse at 4:52 p.m. In Davao, it will begin at 4:09 p.m., and end at 5:28 p.m. with the maximum eclipse at 4:50 p.m.

Wikipedia said “an annular eclipse occurs when the sun and moon are exactly in line, but the apparent size of the moon is smaller than that of the sun.”

“Hence, the sun appears as a very bright ring, or annulus, surrounding the outline of the moon,” the online encyclopedia said.

The first eclipse of 2010 – a partial lunar eclipse in the Philippines – occurred last January 1.

Meanwhile, PAGASA cautioned spectators against viewing the solar eclipse directly without proper eye safety, even if it is only a partial eclipse.

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Photo Credit eiriknewth


Here is the report taken from ddnews, India

Rare partial solar eclipse in India today



A rare total solar eclipse will occur on Friday afternoon when the moon will pass directly between the earth and the sun but it will be visible as a partial eclipse in India.


The eclipse will begin in Arctic Canada and sweep across Greenland, western Siberia, Mongolia and central China.

In India, the visual treat will start at 4:03 pm in Delhi and last for about two hours with maximum impact at 5:02 pm.

In rest of the country, the partial eclipse will be visible a few minutes later.

Nearly 15 lakh pilgrims are expected to take a holy dip in Brahm Sarovar at Kurekshetra where security has been tightened due to recent serial blasts in Bangalore and Ahmedabad.

Viewers all across the globe can see the eclipse as it happens on NASA TV and by logging on to www.nasa.gov.

The US space agency has made arrangements to telecast live images of the rare celestial event.

"The partial eclipse will be seen in the north-eastern region, starting from about 4 pm," said Rathnasree, Director at the Nehru Planetarium.

The maximum obscuration of the sun will occur at Sibsagar

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