Guwahati: A partial solar eclipse or surya grahan is set to occur on Tuesday, October 25. The majority of Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and western Asia will be able to see it. The eclipse will start in India in the late afternoon.
A partial solar eclipse occurs when the Moon is positioned so that it is between the Sun and the Earth. But because the three are not exactly aligned, only a portion of the Sun is blocked out, giving the eclipsed portion of the Sun a crescent shape.
The celestial phenomena, whose duration varies from city to city, can be seen in the majority of India. The eclipse wouldn’t be visible in Andaman and Nicobar Island or in other north-easterly locales including Imphal, Aizawl, Itanagar, and Kohima. In addition, because the eclipse will last until after sunset, India will not be able to see it end.
For Mumbai and Delhi, the duration of the eclipse from its beginning up to the sunset timing is 1 hour 19 minutes and 1 hour 13 minutes, respectively. While the eclipse will begin at 4:29 pm in Delhi, in Mumbai it will be visible from 4:49 pm. The partial eclipse will last for 31 minutes in Chennai where it will start at 5:14 pm. People, in Bengaluru, will get to see the eclipse from 5:12 pm for 43 minutes. Kolkata will witness the partial eclipse at 4:52 pm, which will last for approx. 12 minutes.
In a press release, the Ministry of Earth Science has urged not to view the eclipsed Sun with naked eye, even for a brief period of time. It states that the obscuration of the Sun will be approximately 40-50 percent at the time of the maximum eclipse in north-western parts of India.