Annular Solar Eclipse - Jan 15, 2010

One of the first major events of the new year is the much awaited Annular Solar Eclipse on Jan 15, 2010. For those in India, this rare event can be seen from few places in the southern parts of the country. The map below shows the belt of totality and the time of eclipse.


An Annular Solar Eclipse is one in which the moon, although perfectly aligned in front of the sun, does not completely cover the disc, but rather leaves an outer ring of light, and thus the name 'annular'.

This phenomenon occurs when the moon is at or near the apogee, i.e. furthest distance from the earth (and of course other conditions of a regular solar eclipse being satisfied). An interesting thing to note is that although Annular Solar Eclipses are a rare occurrence now, they will become more and more common since the mean earth-moon distance is slowly increasing. hence after a ridiculously long time (but surely calculated already!) we will no longer be able to witness a Total Solar Eclipse, but at most an Annular one.