ANNULAR SOLAR ECLIPSE ON 15TH JAN 2010

THERE WILL BE A ANNULAR SOLAR ECLIPSE ON FRIDAY,15TH JAN 10. THE eclipse will be visible as a partial eclipse in much of Africa, Eastern Europe, Middle East and Asia. It will be seen as annular within a narrow stretch of 300 km (190 mi) width across Central Africa, Maldives, South Kerala(India), South Tamil Nadu(India), North Sri Lanka, parts of Burma and parts of China.

Timings-----
Times (UTC)
(P1) Partial begin 4:05:28
(U1) Total begin 5:13:55
Greatest eclipse 7:07:39
(U4) Total end 8:59:04
(P4) Partial end 10:07:35

Type of eclipse
Nature Annular
Gamma 0.4002
Magnitude 0.919
Maximum eclipse
Duration 11m 8s
Coordinates 1.6N 69.3E
Max. width of band 333 km

DETAILS
The eclipse starts at Uganda, passes through Nairobi, enters Indian ocean where the greatest eclipse is taking place in mid of Ocean for a maximum of 11 Mins and 7.7 seconds.
After that enters Maldives, where it would be the longest on land with 10.8 Min of viewing. This makes the tiny islands of Maldives the best spot for viewing this eclipse from land. The annular Eclipse at Male', the capital city of Maldives starts at 12:20:20 hrs and ends 12:30:06 hrs Maldives local time (GMT+5hrs). This is also the longest duration of any city having an international airport in the eclipse track.[1]
At approx 13.20 hrs IST, the annular solar eclips enters India at Thiruvananthapuram(Trivandrum), Kerala and exits India at Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu. The eclipse is viewable for 10.4 minutes in India. The best place from India is Dhanushkodi in Pamban Island off Tamil Nadu coast. Dhanushkodi is about 18 km South east from Rameshwaram and 18 Km West of Mannar Island in Sri Lanka.
After Rameswaram, enters Sri Lanka at Delft Island, exits at Jaffna in Sri Lanka, cross Bay of Bengal and ends in Burma - China border.
For best viewing of the Eclipse, you need to travel to Maldives, where many International flights land and take off everyday, being a world famous tourist destination. Visa for Maldives is free for 30 days for a tourist entry.
Thiruvananthapuram city, which is the entry point of the eclipse in India, is equipped with telescopes and announced facilities for the public to view the eclipse.[2] Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, situated in Trivandrum, is analysing the atmospheric-ionospheric parameters during the eclipse.[3] Lot of scientists have camped in the city to witness and study the eclipse.[4]
Dhanushkodi, which falls on the central line of the Eclipse is a good place to view the eclipse. The northern most limit of shadow in India is Cuddalore, Neyveli, Erode, Kodaikanal, Madurai. Other best locations in Tamil Nadu: Thoothukudi and Cape Comorin which lies 22 km north of Central line. . . The centre line passes some 2 km east of Kodandaramar Temple. The exact location is between NH end and Dhanushkodi ruins. Dhanushkodi is about 2 km east of the central line. The degree difference is about 0.2 between Central line - Kodandaramar Temple and Dhanushkodi ruins vice versa. 

I HAVE MY FATHER TRAVELING BY FLIGHT TO BHUJ FROM MUMBAI AT THE TIME OF ECLIPSE. WE WILL GET A WINDOW SEAT FOR THE WEST SIDE BY WEB CHECK-IN AND HE WILL TRY TO TAKE SOME PHOTOS OF THE SHADOW. BUT THE SHADOW IS VERY LARGE AND WILL BE DIFFICULT TO CATCH IT 

TIMINGS FOR NAGPUR,INDIA
ECLIPSE STARTS- 11:36AM
1/4TH OS SUN IS COVERED BY 12:36PM
MAXIMUM WILL BE BY 13"36PM
ECLIPSE ENDS AT 15:06PM

weather in nagpur-- CLEAR


AKSHAY