Solar Eclipse 2020: Check out the best places to observe ‘ring of fire’ on June 21

The path of annular solar eclipse 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.

An annular solar eclipse will occur on June 21 which will be visible in many parts of the world including India.

A solar eclipse occurs when the moon, earth and sun come in a straight line, with the moon between the earth and the sun.

However, unlike a full solar eclipse when the sun is entirely covered by the moon for a brief period, during the annular eclipse, the angular diameter of the moon falls short of that of the sun and it fails to cover up the latter completely. As a result a ring of the sun’s disk remains visible around the moon. Hence, an annular solar eclipse is popularly known as ‘ring of fire’.

A few places in northern India will be able to witness this ‘ring of fire’ while the rest of the country will observe the event 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, as per a PTI report.

The PTI report added that 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.

But even if you aren’t among the lucky ones who will get to witness the ‘ring of fire’, you can still observe a partial solar eclipse of a different magnitude in places including Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Hyderabad and New Delhi.

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.

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.

However, before you step out to witness this celestial event, a word of caution.

Make sure not to observe the solar eclipse with the naked eye. It must be projected on to a screen for watching or one must be wearing dark glasses.