Nation awestruck with Ring of Fire

New Delhi : The Moon on Thursday slowly masked the Sun to leave just a burning ring of fire in what was the last solar eclipse of the decade, an astronomical phenomenon witnessed by thousands of scientists and spiritualists across India.

As the Moon came in between the Earth and the Sun and the three celestial bodies aligned, people gathered on rooftops, beaches and other open spaces as well as planetariums to watch the flaming solar disc.

But overcast skies and fog played spoilsport in many parts, particularly north India, leaving those in towns such as Kozhikode in Kerala to watch the eclipse unfold in clear skies. The partial phase of the eclipse began at 8 am and the annular phase at 9.06 am. The annular phase ended 12.29 pm, while the partial phase ended at 13.36 pm, the Ministry of Earth Sciences said.

An annular solar eclipse occurs when the angular diameter of the Moon falls short of the Sun so it cannot cover the latter completely. As a result, the Sun is visible only as a 'ring of fire' around the Moon.

The obscuration of the Sun by the Moon at the time of greatest phase of partial eclipse would be around 90 per cent in Bengaluru, 85 per cent in Chennai, 79 per cent in Mumbai, 45 per cent in Kolkata, 45 per cent in Delhi, 42 per cent in Patna, 33 percent in Guwahati, 70 per cent in Port Blair, 35 per cent in Silchar.