Wednesday’s annular solar eclipse will not be visible in India

The annular solar eclipse on Wednesday, October 2, will not be visible in India as it will occur during the night.

Besides, the path of annularity of the eclipse, about 250-km wide, is largely over the Pacific and the Atlantic.

“The path of annularity passes over the Pacific Ocean and South Atlantic Ocean. Over land, it passes over southern Chile and Argentina,” said R.C. Kapoor, formerly with the Indian Institute of Astrophysics.

He added that the greatest eclipse is over the Pacific, beginning at around 11 p.m. IST on Wednesday, October 2, and ending at 2 a.m. IST on Thursday, October 3.

“The eclipse of October 2 is annular. In this case, the moon in its orbit happens to be near its farthest point (the apogee) from the earth, 63.6 earth radii (earth radius mean value: 6,371 km). In such an event, we shall get an unusual view of the eclipsed sun as a very brightly lit thin rim with a dark central hole (the moon), the magnitude being about 0.95 at the central line,” he said.

Prof. Kapoor added that the corona of the sun would not show up because the visible annulus of its disc simply outshines the relatively much feebler corona, in fact a million times fainter.

“Therefore, for the solar astronomer, an annular eclipse has less attraction today. The event will still arouse enough curiosity and has a great educational value in its own right,” Prof. Kapoor added.

Rationalists to have meal at Town Hall

A group of rationalists, under the banner ‘Moodhanambike Virodhi Okkoota’, have organised an event where meals will be served on the steps of Town Hall in Bengaluru from 9 p.m. on Wednesday, to mark the solar eclipse. This is to break a superstition that one should not eat during an eclipse.

Published - October 01, 2024 09:40 pm IST