Solar Eclipse on July 22 2009 (Indian Places and Timings)

**Abbas** · 21-07-2009

On Wednesday, 2009 July 22, a total eclipse of the Sun is visible from within a narrow corridor that traverses half of Earth. The path of the Moon's umbral shadow begins in India and crosses through Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar and China. After leaving mainland Asia, the path crosses Japan's Ryukyu Islands and curves southeast through the Pacific Ocean where the maximum duration of totality reaches 6 min 39 s. A partial eclipse is seen within the much broader path of the Moon's penumbral shadow, which includes most of eastern Asia, Indonesia, and the Pacific Ocean.

Duration

This solar eclipse is the longest total solar eclipse that will occur in the twenty-first century, and will not be surpassed in duration until June 13, 2132. Totality will last for up to 6 minutes and 39 seconds, with the maximum eclipse occurring in the ocean at 02:35:21 UTC about 100 km south of the Bonin Islands, southeast of Japan. The uninhabited North Iwo Jima island is the landmass with totality time closest to maximum, while the closest inhabited point is Akusekijima, where the eclipse will last 6 minutes and 25 seconds.

Total Solar Eclipse Timings in India :

05:28 am to 07:40 am (IST) on July 22nd Wednesday
Total Solar Eclipse 06.26 am to 06.30 am (IST)

The sunrise eclipse begins with the western part of India, travels to eastern part of India, crosses to Myna-mar (Burma), small islands of Japan and China, the totality of the China duration will be about 5 minutes and 15 degrees in the eastern part at the time of total eclipse. The totality of the cities lie close to the central part are the In India Surat, Indore, Bhopal, Jabalpur, Varanasi and Patna. Hence, one can view the eclipse first at Surat just at the point of sunrise.

**The Hollow** · 21-07-2009

TSE 2009

Total solar eclipse will be visible from many cities of India including Surat, Vadodara, Indore, Bhopal, Jabalpur, Allahabad, Varanasi, Patna, and Siliguri. The central line of the Moon’s shadow will start at 06.21 IST from India’s western coast. At the start of eclipse, the track of totality will be 205 km wide. At Surat, people will experience the totality for 3 min 14 sec and Sun will be only 3 above the northeastern horizon. Almost at the same time, lakhs of people at Indore will witness the totality for 3 min 5 sec. At Indore, the Sun will be around 6 above the horizon. The city of Bhopal, another city falling in the path of totality, lies 40 km north of the central line. At this distance, the duration of totality will be 3 min 9 sec starting at 06.22 IST. The path of totality stretches diagonally from the western coast to north-eastern part of India, which covers nearly 2/3 of the country. Other larger cities falling in the belt of totality are Varanasi and Patna from where the eclipse will be visible for about 3 min 07 sec and 3 min 47 sec, respectively. Places near Patna could be the best choice to observe the eclipse because from these places the Sun will be around 130 and 140 above the horizon respectively. The city of Kolkata is located about 500 km away from the central line of totality in the southeast. The people of Kolkata will view a partial eclipse of magnitude 0.911, that is, 91.1 per cent of the Sun’s disc would be covered by the Moon. The path of totality will cross eastern Nepal and northern Bangladesh and reach the India-China border at 06:35 IST. The longest totality visible from land area in ocean would be 6 min 39 sec in the Ryuku Islands of Japan almost at local noon. The path of totality will then move towards southeast in the Pacific Ocean and the Moon’s shadow will lift off the Earth at around 09:48 IST. The totality will be visible on Earth for about 3 h 25 min and the path of totality will travel about approximately 15,150 km on the Earth’s surface.

Prospects of watching the eclipse

The total solar eclipse begins at early morning; in fact, most of the cities in India will see the Sun rising partially eclipsed. Eclipse lovers will have to wake-up early in the morning to see the totality. But even if one manages to wake-up early in the morning it is difficult to say whether he or she will be able to see the eclipse. The reason is that in July the Indian monsoon is at its peak and at most places will have cloud covered skies.
According to the weather forecasts based on the observations of past years and satellite data, the probability of visibility of the eclipse in India is quite low. According to the charts, Bhopal has a 50% chance of overcast skies. The mean cloudiness at Allahabad is 77% the figure drops to 63% east of Patna. The probability of cloudiness goes up again at Guwahati and Dibrugarh at around 85%. The figures are not promising at all. The only thing which we can do is to hope that the sky be clear at the time of totality.

The beginning and end of the eclipse vary from place to place. The local circumstances for the partial phases and total eclipse are given in Table 1 and Table 2, respectively. These tables are from the Positional Astronomy Centre, India Meteorological Department, Kolkata. In Table 1, the first column gives the name of the city, second to sixth gives the beginning eclipse, greatest phase, magnitude (ratio of the area of the solar disc observed to the total areas of the solar disc), obscuration, ending of eclipse and time of sun rise, respectively. All the timings are in Indian Standard Time. In Table 2, the first column gives the name of the city; second to seventh gives the beginning eclipse, beginning of totality, greater phase, magnitude, ending of totality, ending of eclipse and time of sunrise respectively.

For Timings in Indian Cities Have a look at this document: Total Solar Eclipse of 22 July 2009