Solar Eclipse - 15th January 2010

The longest lasting annular solar eclipse of this millennium occured today. It was the longest annular eclipse until the year 3043. It is not only the longest Annular eclipse, but also the longest solar eclipse for the next ten centuries, meaning you will not see another such eclipse for the next 1,033 years A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partially obscuring Earth's view of the Sun. An annular solar eclipse occurs when the Moon's apparent diameter is smaller than the Sun, causing the sun to look like an annulus (ring), blocking most of the Sun's light. An annular eclipse will appear as partial eclipse over a region thousands of kilometres wide. This is the longest annular solar eclipse of the millennium, and the longest until December 23, 3043, with a maximum length of 11 mins and 7.8 seconds. (The solar eclipse of January 4, 1992 was longer, at 11 minutes, 41 seconds, occuring in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.) It was visible as a partial eclipse in much of Africa, Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Asia. It was seen as annular within a narrow stretch of 300 km width across Central Africa, Maldives, South Kerala (India), South Tamil Nadu (India), North Sri Lanka, parts of Burma and parts of China. The eclipse started at the Central African Republic, traverses Cameroon, Congo and Uganda, passes through Nairobi, Kenya, and enters the Indian Ocean and reaches its greatest eclipse. After that it entered Maldives, where it would be the longest on land with 10.8 minutes of viewing. This made the tiny islands of Maldives the best spot for viewing this eclipse from land. The annular Eclipse at Male', the capital city of Maldives started at 12:20:20 hrs and ended 12:30:06 hrs Maldives local time . This is also the longest duration of any city having an international airport in the eclipse track. Maldives Science Society hosted an eclipse viewing gathering for those who love eclipse viewing. MSS reserved 50 eclipse glasses for the viewers to share. Also during this time MSS demonstrated on building a pinhole projector and keept a bigger pinhole projector for all to view the eclipse at ease. At approx 13:20 Hrs, the annular solar eclipse entered India at (Trivandrum), Kerala and exits India at Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu