Team Herald
PANJIM: The star astronomical event of the year, the annular solar eclipse will occur on the morning of December 26. The phenomena will start at 8.03 am and will continue till 10:59 am and will be visible all over Goa. An annular eclipse occurs when the new moon is a little further away in its orbit than normal and is not able to cover the entire solar disk as is required to cause a total solar eclipse. In such cases the moon although exactly in line with the sun and earth leaves out a visible flaming ring of the sun and hence an annular eclipse is also known as the “ring of fire”.
The path of totality of the eclipse starts in Bahrain and passing through UAE enters India from the coast of Mangalore in the West and ends in the Pacific Ocean after passing through Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Indonesia and Philippines. Kannur, Coimbatore and Dindigul in South India are also on the path of the totality in India.
In Goa, the eclipse will be seen as a partial eclipse with 82% of the sun’s surface being covered. Sunrise in Goa on December 26 happens at 6.59 am and the eclipse will begin at 8.03am. The maximum eclipse for the Goan latitude occurs at 9.23 am.
The Association of Friends of Astronomy (Goa) has made elaborate arrangements at a few places to allow Goan sky enthusiasts to view the eclipse.
