Partial solar eclipse in Northeast on June 21

From India, the annular phase will be visible in the morning from some places within a narrow corridor of northern part of the country (parts of Rajasthan, Haryana and Uttarakhand) and it will be seen as partial solar eclipse from the rest part of the country.

A solar eclipse occurs on a new moon day when it comes in between the earth and the sun and all the three objects are aligned. An annular solar eclipse occurs when 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.

The sky gazers will get an opportunity to observe the "ring of fire" during the phenomenon.

In India, the obscuration of the sun by the moon at the time of greatest phase of the annular eclipse will be nearly 98.6 per cent.

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.

Eclipsed Sun should not be viewed with the naked eye, even for a very short time. It will cause permanent damage to the eyes leading to blindness even when the moon covers most portion of the Sun.

Safe technique to observe the solar eclipse is either by using a proper filter like aluminized Mylar, black polymer, welding glass of shade number 14 or by making a projection of the sun's image on a white board by telescope.

Here is an account of the partial solar eclipse in NE: That of 3 hours and 28 minutes in Agartala will begin at 10: 56, and attain the greatest eclipse at 12:45.1; in Aizawl, it will be of 3 hours 26 minutes and will begin at 11:00.9 to attain the greatest eclipse at 12: 49.8 ; in Gangtok, it will be of 3 hours 28 minutes and will begin at 10 48.3 to attain the greatest eclipse at 12 : 36.2; in Imphal, it will be of 3 hours 24 minutes and will begin at 11: 04.6 to attain the greatest eclipse at 12: 53.0; in Itanagar, it will be of 3 hours 23 minutes and will begin at 11: 03.5 to attain the greatest eclipse at 12: 51.1; in Kohima, it will be of 3 hours 23 minutes and will begin at 11: 05.3 to attain the greatest eclipse at 12: 53.3; in Shillong, it will be of 3 hours 27 minutes and will begin at 10: 58.0 to attain the greatest eclipse at 12: 46.6; in Silchar, it will be of 3 hours 26 minutes and will begin at 11: 01.0 to attain the greatest eclipse at 12: 49.7, stated a release.

Also watch: Evening Bulletin | 16th June, 2020