Ring Of Fire In the Sky: Jan 15

On Jan 15, people living in the southern tip of the country at Dhanushkodi in Tamil Nadu will get to watch the 'Ring of Fire' when the moon will cover the sun's disc during the millennium's longest annular solar eclipse. However, sky gazers in Delhi will also have something to cheer about as they will get to see more than half of the eclipse. Annular solar eclipse occurs when the sun and the moon are exactly in line, but the apparent size of the moon's shadow is smaller than that of the visible disc of the sun. The covered sun, therefore, appears as a 'Ring of Fire', with its rays appearing spread out from the outline of the moon. Last time India saw this 'Ring of Fire' was Nov 22, 1965, and it will not be witnessed again before June 21, 2020. The maximum duration of the eclipse would be 11 minutes 08 seconds over the Indian Ocean, thus making it the longest annular eclipse of the millennium. 'People in southern parts of the country, especially in Dhanushkodi near Rameshwaram, will be lucky to see the heavenly sight of 'Ring of Fire'. The eclipse will be best viewed at Dhanushkodi for a duration of 10 minutes and 13 seconds,' said N. Rathnasree, director of Nehru Planetarium in New Delhi. In India, the eclipse will start around 11 a.m. and end around 3:15 p.m. The eclipse will first be seen in south of Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu and then move obliquely to Rameshwaram and Dhanushkodi. It will then move to Kerala and end in Mizoram in the northeast.

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