Several parts of the country, including Odisha, Kerala, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Delhi, witnessed a solar eclipse on Thursday morning, the last one of this decade.
The solar eclipse — which occurs when the moon passes between the Earth and the Sun — began at around 8.17 am and continued till 1057 am on Thursday.
The portals of Birla Mandir in the national capital were closed 12 hours before the eclipse after an ‘aarti‘ was performed on Wednesday evening.
The temple doors will open at 12 noon on Thursday, after which devotees can offer prayers.
Meanwhile, hundreds of devotees also reached the Ganga Ghat in Varanasi to take a holy dip in the river and offer special prayers during the celestial event.
There are three types of solar eclipse — partial, annular and total.
An annular solar eclipse takes place when the moon’s apparent diameter is smaller than that of the Sun’s and blocks most of the Sun’s light.
This causes the Sun to look like a ring (annulus) of fire, Debiprosad Duari, the Director, Research and Academic of MP Birla Institute of Fundamental Research, MP Birla Planetarium, said.
Thursday’s was an annular eclipse that was visible in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Oman, India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Northern Mariana Islands, and Guam.
Population centers in the path of the annularity included Udhagamandalam, Kozhikode, Coimbatore, Jaffna, Trincomalee, Singapore, Singkawang and Guam, Duari said.
In the Indian sub-continent, the annularity phases were seen within a narrow path grazing the southern Indian peninsula through Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu before crossing the Bay of Bengal for northern Sri Lanka.
The people of the southern part of the country could see a greater part of the partial solar eclipse because of the geometry of the eclipse path.
According to experts, one should not look directly at the Sun during the eclipse even for a little period without proper protection.
Even when 99 per cent of the surface of the Sun is covered by the moon during partial eclipse, the remaining light is still intense enough to damage the eye, Duari told PTI.
Proper solar filters with certified appropriate optical density against radiation which are safe to the eyes should be used in front optical devices and the naked eye, he said.
Aluminised mylar films of approved thickness and transmittivity coated with black polymer are the safest for use in solar goggles that one generally uses for eclipse viewing, he said.
Welders glass number 14 is a safe material as solar filter for direct viewing of the solar disc, the researcher said.
According to him, the best method to view the solar eclipse will be to use a pinhole camera or a telescopic projection on a suitable surface.
IMAGES: Visuals of the solar eclipse from Abu Dhabi on Thursday morning. Photographs: Christopher Pike/Reuters
With PTI inputs
