Solar Eclipse 2019 live updates: Southern cities witness 'ring of fire' during annularity
The annular solar eclipse, the last one of 2019, has begun. The last solar eclipse of 2019 took over the skies around 8 am Thursday morning. The December 26 solar eclipse will be visible most prominently from South India. Cities such as Kannur, Kochi, Kozhikode, Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum) in Kerala; Coimbatore, Madurai, Ooty, Trichy and Chennai in Tamil Nadu; Mangaluru and Bengaluru in Karnataka; and Puducherry are among places where the solar eclipse will be visible fully.
Other parts of India, on the other hand, will witness a partial solar eclipse. The solar eclipse began setting in at 8 am and will last till 1:30 pm. The solar eclipse's peak, i.e. the moment when the Moon is fully over the Sun, will take place at 10:47 am and will last for less than four minutes.
Solar eclipse seen in Hyderabad
Students are eagerly watching solar eclipse through solar filters at SV Arts College in Tirupati on Thursday.
PM Modi tweets about his eclipse experience
Like many Indians, I was enthusiastic about #solareclipse2019.
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) December 26, 2019
Unfortunately, I could not see the Sun due to cloud cover but I did catch glimpses of the eclipse in Kozhikode and other parts on live stream. Also enriched my knowledge on the subject by interacting with experts. pic.twitter.com/EI1dcIWRIz
Crowds watch eclipse in Vijaywada
Thick fog in several parts of the national capital blocked the view of the much-awaited annual solar eclipse in Delhi on Thursday morning.
Eclipse as viewed from Chennai
What is Ring of Fire: A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partly obscuring the Sun for a viewer on Earth. An annular solar eclipse takes place when the moon's apparent diameter is smaller than that of the Sun's and blocks most of the Sun's light. This causes the Sun to look like a ring (annulus) of fire.
Kerala finance minister Thomas Isaac viewing Solar Eclipse using a filter glass at Nilamel in Thiruvananthapuram
Over 90% of Sun's disc now covered in Trichy
The harmful ultra violet rays from the sun can destroy cells in the retina that transmit what you see to the brain, and can cause permanent damage