SOLAR ECLIPSE A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partially obscuring Earth's view of the Sun. An annular solar eclipse occurs when the Moon's apparent diameter is smaller than the Sun, causing the sun to look like an annulus (ring), blocking most of the Sun's light. An annular eclipse appears as a partial eclipse over a region thousands of kilometers wide The solar eclipse of January 15, 2010 was an annular eclipse of the Sun with a magnitude of 0.9190. It was the longest annular solar eclipse of the millennium, [1] and the longest until December 23, 3043, with a maximum length of 11 mins and 7.8 seconds. (The solar eclipse of January 4, 1992, was longer, at 11 minutes, 41 seconds, occurring in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.)[2] The eclipse was visible as only a partial eclipse in much of Africa, Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Asia. It was seen as an annular eclipse within a narrow stretch of 300 km (190 mi) width across Central Africa, Maldives, South Kerala (India), South Tamil Nadu (India), Sri Lanka and parts of Bangladesh, Burma and China. The eclipse started in the Central African Republic, traversed Cameroon, DR Congo and Uganda, passed through Nairobi, Kenya, and passed over the Indian Ocean, where it reached its greatest visibility. It then entered Maldives, where it was the longest on land with 10.8 viewable minutes. The annular eclipse at Malé, the capital city of Maldives, started at 12:20:20 and ended at 12:30:06 Maldives local time (UTC+5). This was also the longest duration of any eclipse with an international airport in its track.[3] At approximately 13:20 IST, the annular solar eclipse entered India at Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum), Kerala and exited India at Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu. The eclipse was viewable for 10.4 minutes in India. After Rameswaram, it entered Sri Lanka at Delft Island, exited at Jaffna in Sri Lanka, crossed the Bay of Bengal and re-entered India in Mizoram. Thiruvananthapuram, which was the entry point of the eclipse in India, was equipped with telescopes and announced facilities for the public to view the eclipse.[4] Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, situated in Trivandrum, analysed the atmospheric-ionospheric parameters during the eclipse.[5] Many scientists camped in the city to witness and study the eclipse.[6] At Rameswaram, the sunrise was not visible due to thick clouds, but it started getting clear at around 9 AM local time and became almost totally clear by the time the eclipse began. The sky had a thin layer of cirrus clouds till 2:30PM. Among the eclipse-watchers was Sky Watchers' Association of North Bengal (SWAN) from Siliguri at the foothills of West Bengal and Tamilnadu Astronomical Association. Dhanushkodi, which falls on the central line of the eclipse, was a good place to view the eclipse. The northernmost limit of shadow in India was Cuddalore, Neyveli, Erode, Kodaikanal, and Madurai. Other prime viewing locations in Tamil Nadu include Thoothukudi and Cape Comorin, 22 km north of the center line. The exact location of the line is between the NH end and the Dhanushkodi ruins. Dhanushkodi is about 2 km east of the central line. The degree difference is about 0.2 between the central line ± with Kodandaramar Temple and Dhanushkodi ruins vice versa. Dhanushkodi is about 5 km from the Kodandaramar Temple. After South Asia, annularity passed Myanmar and China before leaving the Earth A total solar eclipse occurred on July 22, 2009. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partially obscuring Earth's view of the Sun. A total solar eclipse occurs when the Moon's apparent diameter is larger than the Sun, blocking all direct sunlight, turning day into darkness. Totality occurs in a narrow path across the surface of the Earth, while a partial solar eclipse will be visible over a region thousands of miles wide. It was the longest total solar eclipse during the 21st century, not to be surpassed until 13 June 2132.[1] It lasted a maximum of 6 minutes and 39 seconds off the coast of Southeast Asia,[2] causing tourist interest in eastern China, Japan, India, Nepal and Bangladesh.[2][3][4] A partial eclipse was seen within the broad path of the Moon's penumbra, including most of Southeast Asia (all of India and China) and north-eastern Oceania. The total eclipse was visible from a narrow corridor through northern Maldives, northern Pakistan, northern India, eastern Nepal, northern Bangladesh, Bhutan, northern Philippines, the northern tip of Myanmar, central China and the Pacific Ocean, including the Ryukyu Islands, Marshall Islands and Kiribati. Totality was visible in many large cities, including Surat, Vadodara, Bhopal, Varanasi, Patna, Gaya, Dinajpur, Siliguri, Guwahati, Tawang in India and Chengdu, Nanchong, Chongqing, Yichang, Jingzhou, Wuhan, Huanggang, Hefei, Hangzhou, Wuxi, Huzhou, Suzhou, Jiaxing, Ningbo, Shanghai, Chapai Nawabganj as well as over the Three Gorges Dam in China.[5][6] According to NASA, the Japanese island Kitaio Jima was predicted to have the best viewing conditions [7][8] featuring both longer viewing time (being the closest point of land to the point of greatest eclipse) and lower cloud cover statistics than all of continental Asia. # Observations Crowds gather on the ghats for the eclipse in Varanasi, India Thousands of pilgrims gathered on the banks of the Ganges River in Varanasi, India to experience the eclipse as a religious or spiritual event. Some people expected that there would be a relationship, either positive or negative, between their health and the occurrence of the eclipse.[9] Indian scientists observed the solar eclipse from an Indian Air Force plane.[10] The Chinese government used the opportunity to provide scientific education and to dispel any superstition. Observers in Japan were excited by the prospect of experiencing the first eclipse in 46 years, but found the experience dampened by cloudy skies obscuring the view.[11] Thousands of people of Bangladesh witnessed the longest total solar eclipses of the 21st century on Wednesday, 22 July, 2009 defying rain and a heavily overcast sky. Before this a "total solar eclipse observation committee" was formed with Bishwa Sahitya Kendra, Liberation War Museum, Chhayanaut's educational initiative Nalanda, Samannito Shikkha-Sangskriti, Bangladesh Nature Study and Conservation Union, and Cosmic Culture to observe the eclipse. Science initiative Discussion Project coordinated the committee, which set up the main observation camp at Madhupara village and another at the South Plaza of Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban in Dhaka. With the help of BRB Cable Industries Ltd, the committee also set up observation camps at Bell's Park in Barisal, Akimuddin Gronthagar in Chapai Nawabganj, science and technology university campuses in Syedpur and Gazipur, Jahangirnagar University and Araj Ali Matubbar library at Dania in Dhaka.[12][13][14] Akimudin Gronthagar arranged three camps to observe century's one and only solar eclipse of July 22, 2009. 99.56% totality was observed from main camp at Kamat Maath, Binodpur, Chapai Nawabganj. Totality started at 07:57:41BDT and end 3 minutes 44 seconds later. The other two camps were set up at Poddar Paar in Rajshahi and at railway's Dhar in Uttar, Dhaka. # Duration These identically scaled photos compare the apparent diameter of the full moon (near apogee) to the nearly new moon (visible by earthshine) on the day before the solar eclipse near lunar perigee. This solar eclipse was the longest total solar eclipse to occur in the 21st century, and will not be surpassed in duration until 13 June 2132. Totality lasted for up to 6 minutes and 39 seconds, with the maximum eclipse occurring in the ocean at 02:35:21 UTC about 100 km south of the Bonin Islands, southeast of Japan. The uninhabited North Iwo Jima island was the landmass with totality time closest to maximum, while the closest inhabited point was Akusekijima, where the eclipse lasted 6 minutes and 26 seconds.[15] The cruise ship Costa Classica was chartered specifically to view this eclipse and by viewing the eclipse at the point of maximum duration and cruising along the centerline during the event, duration was extended to 6 minutes, 42 seconds.[16] The eclipse was part of Saros series 136, as was the solar eclipse of July 11, 1991, which was slightly longer, lasting up to 6 minutes 53 seconds (previous eclipses of the same saros series on June 30, 1973 and June 20, 1955, were longer, lasting 7 min 04 and 7 min 08, respectively). The next event from this series will be on August 2, 2027.[17] The exceptional duration was a result of the Moon being near perigee, with the apparent diameter of the Moon 8% larger than the Sun (magnitude 1.080) and the Earth being near aphelion[18] where the Sun appeared slightly smaller. In contrast the annular solar eclipse of January 26, 2009 occurred near lunar apogee and 7% smaller apparent diameter to the sun. And the next solar eclipse of January 15, 2010 was also annular, with the Moon 8.1% smaller than the Sun. # Photos Partial eclipse The Terrain Mapping Camera in the Chandrayaan-1 lunar mission was used to image the earth during the eclipse.[19] It was also observed by the Japanese geostationary satellite MTSAT:[20] 12:30 UT (pre-eclipse) 1:30 UT Close up at 1:30 UT # Related eclipses This total eclipse the second in the series of three eclipses in a one-month period, with two minor penumbral lunar eclipses, first on July 7 and last on August 6.