Hyderabad to witness Boxing Day solar eclipse

HYDERABAD: Hyderabadis will be able to witness a partial solar eclipse on Boxing Day, December 26, with nearly 66% of the sun blacked out.

This year the solar eclipse would coincide with the 15th anniversary of the 2004 tsunami that devastated communities along the coast of the Indian Ocean.
While a large number of scientists are expected to visit Sri Lanka and Tamil Nadu in India to view the eclipse to study the impact this year, experts from Birla Science Planetarium in Hyderabad say that they were not anticipating any such extreme weather events this time in the country or elsewhere.
“There are certain coincidences as the eclipse is falling precisely on December 26, the day in 2004 when the total solar eclipse triggered the tsunami which came right up to Tamil Nadu. The coastal areas in some parts of the country might experience high tides, but nothing more than that. Fishermen and others have been cautioned against going into the sea or rivers,” Birla Science Planetarium director Dr BG Sidharth said.
A solar eclipses occurs when the moon casts a shadow on the earth, thereby totally or partially obscuring the star for viewers on earth.
“People from Hyderabad can easily experience the solar eclipse from places where there is not much cloud cover. You can view it from the top of your terrace but with precautions. We are also going to organise a special show about the solar eclipse at our observatory, including how an eclipse occurs,” Sidharth added.
The planetarium director also stated that certain parts of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala would experience an annular solar eclipse for about three minutes. An annular solar eclipse happens when the moon covers the sun’s centre, leaving the sun's visible outer edges to form a “ring of fire” or annulus around the moon.