Article Posted on : - Jan 23, 2009

File photo of a solar eclipse from NASA

NEW DELHI (BNS): An annular solar eclipse will be witnessed in parts of South India, on the Eastern coast, North East, Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Lakshadeep on January 26.

The eclipse would also be visible from Southern Africa, northwestern Antarctica, Australia and Southeast Asia.

The eclipse would begin at 10.27 am IST when the shadow of the moon would first touch the earth at local sunrise at a point in the South Atlantic Ocean close to Namibia in the south of the Africa continent.

The eclipse would end at 4.31 pm IST when the moon’s shadow leaves the earth at local sunset at a point very close to south of Cambodia in the South China Sea.

The greatest phase of the eclipse with magnitude 0.929 will occur at 1:29 pm IST at a point in the Indian Ocean. The maximum duration of annular phase is 7 minutes and 51 seconds.

The next solar eclipse on July 22 would be total and the century’s longest and will pass through India.