Decade's last solar eclipse witnessed in several parts of India

CHENNAI: Several parts of the country, including Odisha, Kerala, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Delhi, are witnessing a solar eclipse on Thursday morning, which is said to the last one of the decade.

The solar eclipse, which occurs when the Moon passes between the Earth and the Sun, began at around 8:17 am and will continue till 10:57 am today.

It is also being referred to as "ring of fire" and "Surya Grahan" in Hindi.

The solar eclipse also holds religious importance and special prayers are offered on the day. In Hinduism, people avoid eating anything during the eclipse.

The portals of Birla Mandir in the national capital were closed 12 hours before the eclipse after an 'aarti' was performed on Wednesday evening. The temple doors will open at 12 pm today, after which devotees can offer prayers.

Meanwhile, hundreds of devotees also reached the Ganga Ghat in Uttar Pradesh's Varanasi for a holy dip in the river and offer special prayers during the occasion.

There are three types of solar eclipse -- partial, annular and total.

According to experts, people should not look directly at the Sun during the eclipse without proper protection as even it can damage the eyes. Instead, solar filters, pinhole camera or a telescopic projection can be used to see the eclipse.

Besides India, the eclipse is visible in Sri Lanka, Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Indonesia, Singapore, Oman and Guam.

Avid nature enthusiasts keenly followed the eclipse even as experts warned against viewing the natural phenomenon with bare eyes and suggested specific instruments used for this purpose.

How annular eclipse occurs?

The moon moves in an elliptical orbit around the Earth. Due to this, the Moon sometimes comes closer to the Earth and some times goes farther to the Earth. The Moon's distance from Earth

(centre-to-centre) varies with mean values of 363,396 km at perigee (closest) to 405,504 km at apogee (most distant). When it is farther away, its apparent size as seen from the Earth slightly diminishes.

During this time if an eclipse of the Sun takes place, the Moon will not be able to completely block the entire Sun. An annulus of the outer regions of the Sun will still be visible during the maximum eclipse. So this kind of eclipse is known as an annular eclipse.

The path of the eclipse will begin in Saudi Arabia and move east through southern India. A partial eclipse will be visible throughout most of Asia. The annular phase of the eclipse will be visible in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Oman, southern India, Sri Lanka, Sumatra, Malaysia, Maldives, Indonesia, Singapore, other parts of Southeast Asia and some parts of Australia.