New Delhi: India on Sunday will experience its “deepest” annular solar eclipse of this century, with the Sun appearing as a necklace of pearls for around 30 seconds.
Such an appearance of the Sun would be seen during the maximum phase along a marrow corridor running through Rajasthan, Haryana and Uttarakhand.
The eclipse would be partial in the remaining parts of the country.
During the annular solar eclipse, the apparent size of the Moon becomes slightly less than that of the Sun, which leaves the outer rim of the latter uncovered, giving the appearance of a “ring of fire”.
The ring will be very thin as the Moon will cover up to 98.8% of the solar disc, which is why it is called the “deepest” annular eclipse of the century in India, according to experts.
“Instead of a wide fiery ring, the Sun may appear as a necklace of shiny beads (known as Baily’s beads) due to light filtering through Moon’s hills and valleys,” astrophotographer Ajay Talwar told Times of India.
Timings of the eclipse:
First location to see the partial eclipse begin – 21 Jun, 09:15:58 am
First location to see the full eclipse begin – 21 Jun, 10:17:45 am
Maximum Eclipse – 21 Jun, 12:10:04 am
Last location to see the full eclipse end – 21 Jun, 14:02:17 am
Last location to see the partial eclipse end – 21 Jun, 15:04:01 am
