Solar Eclipse India Highlights: Eclipse Gets Over In India, Skygazers Thrilled At Majestic View Of 'Ring Of Fire'

Solar Eclipse India 2020 LIVE Updates: A breathtaking Ring of Fire was witnessed in several places of India including Rajasthan's Suratgarh and Sirsa's Yamunanagar, while the excitement was marred by clouds in Delhi. India On Sunday witnessed annual solar eclipse or 'surya grahan' 2020. It is the third eclipse to take place this year. Earlier, two lunar eclipses took place in January and June. The eclipse began in India at 9:15 am and will continue till 3:03 pm. The eclipse will attain its full phase between 12 pm to 12:30 pm. It is going to be one of the longest spatial phenomena to be observed this year. It is also coinciding with the summer solstice of 2020. Scroll down for information on timings, places, how to watch and stay tuned for latest developments.

Background

Solar Eclipse India 2020 LIVE Updates: In a delight for stargazers, the annular solar eclipse will form a ring of fire in the sky on Sunday, which is also the summer solstice, the longest day of the year. A solar eclipse occurs on a new moon day when it comes in between the earth and the sun and all the three objects are aligned.

An annular solar eclipse occurs when the angular diameter of the moon falls short of that of the sun and it fails to cover up the latter completely. As a result a ring of the sun's disk remains visible around the moon. In India, the obscuration of the sun by the moon at the time of greatest phase of the annular eclipse will be nearly 98.6 per cent.

Timing: The eclipse will begin in India at 9:15 am and will continue till 3:03 pm. The eclipse will attain its full phase between 12 pm to 12:30 pm.

Places: The Ministry of Earth Sciences on Tuesday said that an annular solar eclipse will occur on June 21 and the celestial event will be visible in Rajasthan, Haryana and Uttarakhand.  The eclipse will be seen as a partial solar eclipse from the rest of the country. Few prominent places within this narrow annularity path are Dehradun, Kurukshetra, Chamoli, Joshimath, Sirsa, Suratgarh, etc.

"Places like Delhi will be dark for 5-7 minutes from 11 to 11.30 pm," said Arvind Paranjpye, the Director of the Nehru Planetarium in Mumbai.

Percentage of obscuration of the sun visible in different parts at the time of the greatest phase of partial eclipse:

Delhi: 94%

Guwahati: 80%

Patna: 78%

Silchar: 75%

Kolkata: 66%

Mumbai: 62%

Bangalore: 37%

Chennai: 34%

Port Blair: 28%

How To Watch:

The safe technique to observe the solar eclipse is either by using a proper filter like aluminised mylar, black polymer, welding glass of shade number 14 or by making a projection of the Sun's image on a white board by telescope.

15:05 PM (IST)  •  21 Jun 2020

Solar Eclipse of June 2020 gets over in India.

13:32 PM (IST)  •  21 Jun 2020

Here's timing for solar eclipse in different cities

Delhi: 10:20am to 1:48pm
Varanasi: 10:31am to 2:04pm
Chennai: 10:22am to 1:41pm
Lucknow:10:27am to 1:59pm
Haridwar: 10:24am to 1:51pm
Patna: 10:37 to 2:09 pm
Amritsar: 10:19am to 1:42pm
Ranchi: 10:37am to 2:10pm
Kolkata: 10:46am to 2:17pm
Gorakhpur: 10:32am to 2:05pm
Ayodhya: 10:29am to 2:01pm

13:11 PM (IST)  •  21 Jun 2020

#SolarEclipse2020 as seen in Kathmandu of Nepal.

As per Nepal's BP Koirala Memorial, Planetarium Observatory and Science Museum Development Board the solar eclipse will be visible from 10:52 am to 2:32 pm today. pic.twitter.com/4peHmaoVyB

— ANI (@ANI) June 21, 2020

12:32 PM (IST)  •  21 Jun 2020

Caution : As per experts eclipsed Sun should not be viewed with the naked eye, even for a very short time as it can cause permanent damage of the eyes leading to blindness even when the Moon covers most portion of the Sun.

12:31 PM (IST)  •  21 Jun 2020

Kolkata : Sky gazers and space enthusiasts in the city have all geared up to watch the annular solar eclipse, as the celestial phenomenon began here on Sunday at 10:46 am. Several people went up to to their rooftops to witness the rare celestial treat, which may offset COVID-19 gloom to an extent for the day. Some were, however, sceptical that the overcast skies may hinder the view. The eclipse will be at its peak at 12.35 pm, with 65.5 per cent obscuration, Debi Prasad Duari, the director of M P Birla Planetaurium, said.