Totla Solar Eclipse will start at 06.21 IST from India’s western coast

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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.

 

TSE 2009 in India

 

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.