A total Solar Eclipse of longest duration in the 21st century will occur on Wednesday morning, July 22nd, 2009. This Eclipse is of special interest for the scientists and general public of India as its path of totality passes through thickly populated regions of west, central, east and north-east India.

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The Eclipse begins at 5:28 am IST when the shadow of the moon touches the Earth at local sunrise at a point in the Arabian Sea close to the western coast of India. The eclipse ends at l0:42 am IST when Moon's shadow finally leaves the Earth at local sunset at a point in the South Pacific Ocean.

At approximately 6:23 am IST, the umbra of the eclipse will touch the earth at sunrise at a point in the Gulf of Khambhat in the Arabian Sea near the southern coast of Gujarat. At this time, the path of totality will be about 200 Km wide and the duration of totality at the central line will be about 3 minute 30 seconds.

The shadow crosses over central India, passes through south-east of Nepal, crosses North Bengal, southern part of Sikkim, most of Bhutan and north-western tip of Bangladesh. Then shadow enters Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, touches Myanmar and enters China. The umbra sweeps over China, enters East China Sea and then passes through Japan's Ryukyu Island.

Image: Path of the eclipse across the globe.

Text: Sify correspondent

Images: Piyush Pandey, Director, Nehru Planetarium, Mumbai