Solar Eclipse 2022: The last solar eclipse of the year will occur on October 25. It will be a partial solar eclipse and shall be visible from western Asia, northern Africa, most regions of Europe, the Middle East, and the regions covering the North Atlantic Ocean and the North Indian Ocean. The solar eclipse will begin in India before sunset and will be visible from most places. For people living in the national capital, Delhi, the partial solar eclipse will begin at 4:29 pm IST.
Timings of the solar eclipse for different Indian cities
In the north-western parts of India, the Moon will obscure approximately 40 to 50 per cent of the Sun at that time of maximum eclipse. The obscuration of the Sun will be less than 40 to 50 per cent in other regions of the country.
The partial solar eclipse will not be seen from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and some regions of Northeast India, including Aizawl, Dibrugarh, Imphal, Itanagar, Kohima, Sivasagar, Silchar, and Tamelong, among others, according to the Ministry of Earth Science.
For people living in Delhi, the Moon will appear to obscure 44 per cent of the Sun. Meanwhile, for people in Mumbai, the obscuration of the Sun by the Moon will be 24 per cent.
The duration of the eclipse for people living in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata will be one hour 13 minutes, one hour 19 minutes, 31 minutes, and 12 minutes, respectively.
In Srinagar, the solar eclipse will begin at 4:14 pm IST, and end at 5:20 pm IST.
What is a partial solar eclipse?
A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon comes between the Sun and Earth, casting a shadow on Earth, or partially blocking the Sun's light in some areas, according to NASA.
During a partial solar eclipse, the Moon and the Sun are not perfectly aligned in a straight line. Therefore, the Moon does not completely cover the Sun. This gives the Sun a crescent shape. It appears as though the Moon has taken a bite of the Sun.
The Moon casts only the outer part of its shadow, called the penumbra, on Earth.
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Phases Of A Partial Solar Eclipse
A partial solar eclipse has three distinct phases, namely, the beginning of the partial solar eclipse, maximum eclipse phase, and end of the partial solar eclipse.
The partial solar eclipse begins when the Moon starts moving over the Sun's disk.
The maximum eclipse phase is the one during which the eclipse reaches its maximum magnitude because the Moon covers more of the Sun's disk than at any other moment during the eclipse.
The partial solar eclipse ends when the Moon stops covering the Sun.
According to earthsky.org, a partial solar eclipse occurs 4.7 days before the Moon reaches apogee, which is its farthest point from Earth. The Sun is in front of the constellation Aries, during a partial solar eclipse.
Solar eclipses occur two to five times a year, and can happen only during New Moon. This is because the Moon passes between the Sun and Earth during that phase.
However, not every New Moon results in a solar eclipse, according to timeanddate.com. This is because the plane of the Moon's orbital path around Earth is inclined at an angle of approximately 5° to the planet's orbital plane around the Sun, called the ecliptic. The points where the two orbital planes meet are called lunar nodes, and solar eclipses occur only when a New Moon takes place near a lunar node.
About 35 per cent of all solar eclipses are partial solar eclipses, which means that they occur more frequently than total or annular solar eclipses, according to timeanddate.com.
The partial eclipse was followed by a lunar eclipse on May 16, 2022. Both the eclipses occurred during the same eclipse season, which is an approximately 35-day period during which it is inevitable for at least two eclipses to take place. Sometimes, three eclipses can occur during the same season.