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26th January 2009 Annular Solar EclipseThe Republic Day solar eclipse is not visible from Delhi and is only partial, as seen from some of the southern regions of the country. However, excitement got added on for us at Delhi, when S.P.A.C.E. and the Eclipse Chasers Atheneum enthusiasts set out to webcast the eclipse at the Nehru Planetarium, all the way from Indonesia. Here is the press release given by S.P.A.C.E., for this webcast. Eclipse Chasers Athenaeum, the eclipse sphere of SPACE in association with Nehru Planetarium, New Delhi is organising an Eclipse watch at Nehru Planetarium. An annular eclipse will be visible in the Indian Ocean, Indonesia and Borneo Island on 26th January, 20009. The Eclipse is not actually visible from Delhi and other northern parts of India. However, Delhi can enjoy this mystique annular eclipse by just reaching Nehru Planetarium, Teen Murti Bhawan, where the eclipse progress will be broadcast live on a large screen. A special team consisting of three eclipse chasers from SPACE is traveling to Anyer Beach, Java, Indonesia, where the eclipse is central. They will transmit the entire eclipse, partial phases, annular phases and the later partial phases. The team comprises of Nikhil Pawar scientific officer SPACE, Pankaj Bahmba and Sanjeev kapoor both ECA members. All those interested in watching the eclipse are invited to come to Nehru Planetarium on 26th January afternoon. 26th January 2009 has a special place in the heart of every Indian. As we celebrate our Republic Day the Mother Nature has some goodies for us up her sleeves by presenting the most spectacular phenomenon of nature ‘an Annular Eclipse of the Sun’. 2009 being the International Year of astronomy the coincidence is more than a treat. The eclipse will be partial for many regions in the world including India. The partial eclipse will be visible in a region covering South of Africa, Antarctica, South East Asia, Australia and southern part of India, all places in eastern coast of India, most of north-east India, Andaman & Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep will view the partial eclipse. The timings for different places in India have been given in the table at the end of this article. ECA (Eclipse Chasers Athenaeum) team of astronomers will webcast this eclipse from Indonesia. The eclipse will be webcast live from Anyer Beach, Java, Indonesia (Latitude: 6° 03' 58" S, Longitude: 105° 53' 37" E) as per eclipse schedule below.  The webcast is available here for members of Eclipse Chasers Athenaeum: http://www.eclipsechasers.org/eclipsecast.html One piece of information being asked by the media, is about the timings, anywhere in the world, that the eclipse is starting and anywhere in the world that it is ending - smells like information being asked for the sake of the astrologers! Anyway, the NASA interactive map gives the following timings for the eclipse at the western edge of the totality belt (converted to IST) Partial Eclipse starts at about 10:30 AM (IST) at the earliest, in the South Atlantic Ocean and ends at about 4:26 PM (IST) at the latest, near Phillippines islands. The limiting line of eclipse visibility, passing through India, is here, obtained through the software Wineclipse, kindly provided by William Sheridan.  |