Solar Eclipse 2020: Best Places In India To Watch 'Ring Of Fire' On June 21

NEW DELHI: An annual solar eclipse, also known as 'ring of fire' will occur on June 21. It will be visible in several parts of the world, including India.

A solar eclipse occurs when the moon passes between the sun and the earth. On the eclipse of June 21, since the moon is farther away from the earth, it seems smaller and does not block the entire view of the sun. The moon is in front of the sun and looks like a dark disk on top of an even larger disk which appears like a ring of fire, and hence gets its name as 'Ring Of Fire'.  

In India, only a few places will witness the eclipse while the rest of the country will only get a chance to see it partially.

Depending on the location of a person from the central path, the eclipse, mostly in partial phase, will be visible between 9:56 AM to 2:29 PM, a press release from Planetary Society, India, said on Friday.

The ‘ring of fire’ will be visible in to people in Rajasthan, Haryana and Uttarakhand.

The path of annular solar eclipse will start near Gharsana in Rajasthan around 10:12 AM. However, the phase of annularity will be only for one minute – it will begin around 11:49 am and end at 11:50 am, according to Debi Prasad Duari, director of Kolkata-based M P Birla Planetarium Debi Prasad Duari said, a news agency reported.

The ring of fire will be visible for that one minute from places such as Suratgarh and Anupgarh in Rajasthan, Sirsa, Ratia and Kurukshetra in Haryana, and Dehradun, Chamba, Chamoli and Joshimath in Uttarakhand, the report added.

Meanwhile, the Kurukshetra administration has decided to impose a two-day curfew from Friday to prevent people from gathering at the city's holy pools during the solar eclipse on June 21. According to Hindu beliefs, a bath in the holy tanks at Kurukshetra during solar eclipse is considered pious.

Timigs from different places:

In Kolkata, the partial eclipse will begin at 10:46 am and end at 2:17 pm, while the timing will be from 10:20 am to 1:48 pm in New Delhi, from 10 am to 1:27 pm in Mumbai, from 10:22 am to 1:41 pm in Chennai and between 10.13 am and 1.31 pm in Bengaluru, a daily reported.

Obscuration of the sun by the moon at the time of the greatest phase of partial eclipse will be around 94 per cent in Delhi, 80 per cent in Guwahati, 78 per cent in Patna, 75 per cent in Silchar, 66 per cent in Kolkata, 62 per cent in Mumbai, 37 per cent in Bangalore, 34 per cent in Chennai, 28 per cent in Port Blair.

Anyway, it must be noted that the eclipse must not be seen with naked eyes and must be projected on to a screen for watching or one must be wearing dark glasses.