The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : This year’s first solar eclipse to occur on January 26

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Wednesday, Jan 21, 2009
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

This year’s first solar eclipse to occur on January 26

Lalithasai

Greatest phase will be at 3.19 p.m. and it will end at 4.05 p.m

Chennaites will see only 6.9 per cent of the sun covered by the moon
It will be annular eclipse in which moon will never cover the full sun

CHENNAI: The first solar eclipse of 2009 will occur from 10.26 a.m. to 4.31 p.m. on January 26.

P. Iyamperumal, Executive Director, B. M. Birla Planetarium in the city says: “At Chennai the eclipse will begin at 2.28 p.m.

The greatest phase will be at 3.19 p.m. and it will end at 4.05 p.m.

Chennaites will see only 6.9 per cent of the sun covered by the moon during the greatest phase.

In Tiruchi, where the eclipse will begin at 2.20 p.m. and end at 4.05 p.m. about 8.5 per cent of the sun will be covered.

It will be an annular eclipse in which the moon will never cover the full sun, according to Mr.Iyamperumal.

Though in a total solar eclipse the moon perfectly masks the entire sun, in this particular instance the moon’s orbit, which is at its farthest distance from the Earth will not be able to cover the sun fully.

“The moon has an elliptical orbit. The farthest distance (apogee) from the earth is 406,700 km and the closest one (perigee) is 356,400 km. When it is near apogee it will not cover the entire sun thus resulting in an annular eclipse,” he explained.

The partial phase of the eclipse will be visible from southern part of India, the entire east coast, most of north-east India, Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep.

The Tamil Nadu Science and Technology Centre, Chennai, has made special arrangements for the public to view the eclipse safely using telescope projection methods from 2 p.m.

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